Letters from Friends
Alumnus Jim Diebley connects kids to community service in Singapore
Jim Diebley
Greetings from Singapore! I am Jim Diebley, and I received my Bachelor of Science in Technology Education in 1990 from the college. Since many Ohio State alumni are scattered around the world, I wanted to chime in from the other side of the world to let you know what is happening here.
Following my graduation, I completed a master's degree and taught for two years at a midsized university. I wanted to get in the "teaching trenches," so I did a three-year public teaching stint on the beautiful island of Guam. From Guam, I landed on the tiny, green, orderly island nation of Singapore.
I have enthusiastically started my lucky 13th year of teaching at the Singapore American School (SAS) middle school. SAS is a pre-school-12, co-educational private day school with over 3,800 students! Presently, we are the largest, single campus, international school in the world.
The slogan for our school is "An American Education with an International Perspective." However, our students represent more than 50 different nationalities, with Americans comprising around 65 percent.
I teach technology to grades six through eight and basic computer classes for sixth graders. The curriculum content is based on the standards and benchmarks from the International Technology Education Association (ITEA).
At SAS, there are always opportunities to get involved with projects, committees, or activities that allow teachers and students to follow their dreams. I would like to share a little about a program that I helped create in 1999.
Keyboards for Kids
Diebley presents a computer to a Bintan school.
The program had humble beginnings in 1998 when I helped organize a small group of middle school students to collect, clean, test, and box up outgoing Macintosh computers and sent them to a small school in Ladakh, Northern India. I had visited this school the previous year while trekking.
Later that same year while mountain biking around the Riau Archipelago (Indonesian Islands south of Singapore by 45-minute fast ferry) with a friend and colleague, we got the idea to replicate the Ladakh donation project with kampong (village) schools that needed computers in the Riau Islands.
In 1999 the idea came to fruition. My grade-level teammates and I organized teams of middle school students who collected, tested, cleaned, boxed, and hand-carried the school's used Macintosh computers to Bintan island. The students helped set up the computers and conducted inservice training for local students and teachers. It was an incredible experience for all.
This project has continued to grow over the years, so much so that we purchased a used 20-ft. shipping container with donations to send used computers to Bintan. The first container was renovated with electrical outlets for computers, had desks added, and was hooked up to small gas-powered generator at the school. This serves as a training center in a very rural area where schools have leaky roofs and no electricity. Since 1999, all middle and high schools across Bintan have received used computers and computer labs from our school. Truly amazing!
The program has now mushroomed into cultural and language programs with SAS high school students as well. We team up with Bintan schools and other international schools for band, strings, and cultural concerts. Our high school's Bintan Club raised money to purchase books and school supplies for less fortunate primary school students. Our high school's Tech Club runs trips to Bintan and Batam, a nearby island with an even larger population, to train teachers in how to fix the donated computers.
SAS students continue to ship 250 to 300 used computers to the Riau Islands each year. The program has blossomed in ways we would never have imagined. Intermediate school kids now visit the schools to donate school supplies purchased with funds raised from their swim-a-thons.
Time after time, "magic" happens on these trips for our students, teachers, as well as the island students.
Building houses for the rural poor in Cambodia
As a slight spin-off to the Keyboards for Kids project, some scuba diving students and teachers decided to raise money to build houses for the poor in Cambodia. I challenged the middle school students, saying if they could raise enough money, we would fly to Cambodia and build the houses ourselves. The kids rose to the occasion by organizing a 24-hour dive-a-thon.
We raised more than $2,400 from the dive-a-thon. Our theme became "Divers Building Hope" for the Cambodian people. Amazingly enough, these kids are now sophomores in colleges around the world. This experience seems to have made a positive impression on them.
Magic happens: Kids connecting to community service
To me, the point of connecting kids to community service is for them to see how people in other parts of the world live, work and play. This experience helps break down racial and religious stereotypes as well as gives back to society.
I am also convinced that by exposing the kids to community service at this age, it sticks with them forever. I know graduates of SAS who live and work around the world and still show the same zest for community service as when they were students at the Singapore American School.
My role is as facilitator. I help the students plan and organize trips. By bringing all the variables together, the "'magic" just happens. I have been on a many, many trips over the years, but I still get goose bumps when I see the magic happen with kids - they become energized and excited. It doesn't get old for me!
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