By: Nikki Frankel

A nonprofit organization called Students Rebuild has been bringing together students and teachers from all over the world for a day of charity since 2010. They use their unique fusion of art and philanthropy as a doorway to a deeper understanding of the world. The group selects a different ongoing global issue to focus on for the annual project each year. The Bezos family foundation will pay $5 to aiding refugees for each piece of art, and occasionally they increase that to $10.00. Students Rebuild has decided to assist refugees all across the world in 2023. Amnesty, Future Educators, National Art Honor Society, and GLI are just a few of the clubs at High School East that regularly donate their time and energy to supporting the cause around the world. The day before the month of February is designated as “Students Rebuild Day,” when students attend gym class during social studies to study about refugees from nations including Syria, Venezuela, Myanmar, Ukraine, and the United States due to climate issues. Five stations total—one for each immigrant group—were set up in the gym, with an art station in the center. As they arrived, students would receive a brochure that would go against their social studies mark. To assist pupils understand how difficult it is to be a refugee, after they were transported to one of the refugee stations, they would be taken through a simulation of what it would be like to be a refugee in that nation. After completing the activity and filling out their booklet, they are directed to the center of the gym where they will produce artwork that focuses on accepting migrants. Because each piece of art will cost $10 in February, or about $100 per student, teachers urged students to create ten pieces. On students’ rebuild day, 11,972 works of art totaling 119,720 dollars were produced by High School East. In order to inform the younger students about these problems around the world, Students Rebuild also arranges field trips to the middle school and elementary schools. Students have already raised 240,340 dollars in art across the district! Students at HSE are educating numerous students about issues throughout the world through their artistic endeavors.