Amelia Weiss sits with boxes of donated books headed for the Outer Islands of Micronesia.
Amelia, now a freshman at Cal Berkeley, began to gather materials for under-resourced schools in the Central Pacific after a visit to the Islands of Palau and Yap. She teamed up with other students at Chaminade Prep High School to collect text and reference books for Micronesian students attending Outer Island High School (OIHS) on the atoll of Ulithi, 100 miles east of Yap.
These boxes are just the latest shipment in the massive donation from the high school robotics team at Chaminade College Prep in West Hills, California. The team is participating in the annual Habele book drive, which began in the fall. Donations have also been sent to the Atoll of Woleai.
Across Micronesia, an isolated former US dependency, families struggle with poverty and students lack access to quality classroom instruction.
The problems are particularly acute in the picturesque Outer Islands, located far from the more developed, more densely populated, state capitals. Despite development elsewhere in Oceania, most of the Outer Islands remain subsistence based economies.
Special thanks are also due to Deborah L. Weiss, Amelia's mother, who help to coordinate the collections and delivered the many boxes to the post office.
To learn more about the Outer Islands of Micronesia, and how you can help expand educational access and accomplishment in this remote region, visit www.habele.org.
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