Graduate class launches fundraising campaign for school in Haiti

By Rebekah Greenberg, graduate assistant for RIT's Media Arts and Technology MS program

In the Contemporary Media and Communications (PHMS 743) course in RIT’s Media Arts and Technology MS program, we are collaborating with InterVol on a fundraising campaign to raise money for a school in Haiti called Ecole l’Erudit de Léogâne (School of the Scholar).

This school was founded by Jean Marc Brissau, a native Haitian from the town the school is located in who wishes to give back to his community. InterVol is a local Rochester nonprofit organization focused on saving lives through medical mission trips and recovering and redistributing medical supplies.

This class project was split up into three phases: the planning process, creating content, and the execution of the campaign. 

At the beginning of the semester, we had various RIT staff speakers come to class to impart wisdom and help guide us through this experience. This has been a great real-world activity to apply the different areas we have learned this semester. We have gained skills in time management, teamwork, event management, and social media management. 

We started the planning phase at the beginning of the semester by sending out a survey to gain an understanding of people’s social media donating habits. During the middle of the semester, we worked together as a class, as well as in small groups, to create content to roll out on different social media platforms. We worked together to create meaningful content for this fundraiser.  

 

The school RIT graduate students are raising money for — Ecole l’Erudit de Léogân — offers a good education for students from Haiti's poorest families.

Now, we are in the execution phase, where we are maintaining the social media accounts and keeping ourselves connected with our followers. As a class, we created new Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. From the survey created in the first phase, we discovered people’s social media habits and decided that those platforms were the best to push our campaign onto. 

“This project is a lot of fun and for a great cause," said Media and Arts and Technology student Alyssa Loukola. "Each person in the class is taking their skills and using them to reach our fundraising goal. We all have appointed ourselves to positions that we believe we are the most helpful in.”

The project — titled “Students for Students” — centers on raising funds with InterVol to help Ecole l’Erudit de Léogâne, which was built in rural Haiti in 2019 and now has an enrollment of around 140 students. 

Over the last four years, Ecole l’Erudit de Léogâne has provided high-quality education and nutrition to students at no cost to Haiti’s poorest families. Each student receives a uniform, one meal a day, books, and other school materials. The money raised will go toward Haitian students getting an education, construction for a new school building, teacher wages, and other needs.

The fundraising campaign started on Thanksgiving and runs through New Year’s Eve. The goal is to raise as much money as possible for Ecole l’Erudit de Léogâne and we need awesome people like you to help donate! 

Donations can be made on the campaign page.

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Rebekah Greenberg

About the Author

Rebekah Greenberg graduated from RIT with a BS in Photographic Sciences in spring 2021 and is a graduate assistant (GA) in the Media Arts and Technology MS program. While finishing up her undergraduate degree, she wanted to pursue a master’s degree to help her with a career that combines art, leadership, and media. Greenberg chose the MS in Media Arts and Technology program because it presents her with the chance to explore business and media applications. She is from Nashville, Tenn.