Bayview Glen reaches out to Nairobi
Jeffrey Griffin must play God every December sorting through thousands of applications for acceptance to his school, only to pick 150 for the next year. Kevin Ormondi is one of the lucky ones.
"They must know that God selected them (the students) for a reason and they work really hard at their academics," Bayview Glen International Programs co-ordinator Judy Warrington said.
Ormondi, does not go to a regular school like other children, he is enrolled in the ninth grade at the Stahere Boys’ Centre — a Round Square School — in Nairobi, Kenya where 80-90 percent of the students are either orphans or very poor. Bayview Glen — a Round Square School in Toronto — has picked up the tab, sponsoring the Kenyan youngster.
"The money that the student council is raising to sponsor Kevin is going 100 per cent to Kevin, which is unlike any other sponsorship program," Warrington added.
Round Square is a worldwide association of schools that strives to push their students beyond academic excellence to personal development and responsibility through service, challenge, adventure and international understanding. Membership by school to the association is restricted so that no one country dominates.
Bayview Glen has only been a member of Round Square for one year, yet they found it imperative that they sponsor a child in Kenya to attend the Stahere Boys Centre and put a roof over his head while he receives an education.
Aside from sponsoring Ormondi, Bayview Glen students are preparing for their annual Round Square worldwide conference in Salem Germany — where Kurt Hahn developed the principles behind Round Square — later this month.