EDITORIAL: Local students win national humanitarian contest

As this dark year comes to a close, let’s take a moment to shine a light on some bright young minds in our city.

Last year, four sophomores at Faith Lutheran High School heard about World Vision International’s annual Social Innovation Challenge, an annual event sponsored by the nonprofit Christian humanitarian group, which works in 100 countries. The 2020 challenge involved formulating solutions for combating teen drug addiction in Kolfe Keranio, a community in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

The area was chosen because of a high unemployment rate among the young and a major problem with the use of khat, a plant with stimulant properties that can cause psychological dependence, according to the World Health Organization.

As the Review-Journal’s Julie Wootton-Greener reported this week, World Vision received proposals from teams at six schools with which it partners. After working on their proposals for months, each team was given five minutes to make their pitch, On Nov. 10, the team from Faith Lutheran — Elyssa Bahr, Nikki Manukyan, McKenna Erwin and Mason DeVore — learned that their proposal for a community garden had won the $25,000 prize. They will begin working with World Vision employees from the United States and Ethiopia in January to implement the plan.

“They brought their ‘A’ game this year … and (showed) that they can imagine a real-world solution to a problem that affects the lives of other young people who happen to live across the world,” said Derek Sciba, a Seattle area-based spokesman for World Vision USA.

The four team members spent about seven months crafting their vision. The COVID-19 pandemic forced them to meet virtually via Zoom during the spring and summer. Once school reopened in August under a hybrid model, they worked on their pitch in person at school. Some days, they worked for 13 hours or more, stopping only when they were “exhausted or satisfied,” said Mr. DeVore.

Not only will the project provide the teens with the opportunity to help those in need, it has also led to important life lessons.

Ms. Bahr said the team learned, among other things, how to create a business, as the garden will have to sustain itself and employ young people. Ms. Manukyan said the process also taught them about the importance of trial and error — how many ideas that might sound good on paper really aren’t practical.

The team is hopeful that if they can help this small geographic area in Ethiopia, they can expand their model to help others.

“How far that little candle throws his beams!” Shakespeare wrote. “So shines a good deed in a weary world.”

These Faith Lutheran students may stand proud that their devotion and commitment has offered them an opportunity to change lives for the better.