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ONTARIO, CA—- Living through a historic global pandemic and civil unrest, one school is seizing this critical time to foster global citizenship and teach its students to think outside school walls. Ignite is a first-of-its-kind partnership between Ontario Christian High School and the global Christian humanitarian organization World Vision. This innovative program will inspire students to take action and equip them to find solutions to the needs of today’s world.
Ontario students will also be committing to sponsor children in Kalapata, Kenya through World Vision, but in an empowering twist, the students will be Chosen by the children in Kalpata. The Ontario students had their photos taken and sent to the Kalpata community in Kenya where their photos were displayed for the Kenyan children to choose what Ontario student, they want to be their sponsor.
“One of Ontario Christian’s goals is to be a community that considers loving your neighbor as an essential part of faith, as a non-negotiable. I’m really excited about this experience for the students,” said Ontario Christian Principal Ben Dykhouse. “I’m excited that I get to experience this along with them, with the child that my family is sponsoring.”
On November 18, the Ignite program will hold a powerful event where the students will find out who chose them as their sponsor. They will receive a picture of the child holding their photo and a note letting them know about the child and what made the child choose them. This will be the emotional beginning of a transformational relationship that, accompanied with an experiential curriculum, will shape the students into global leaders with a biblical worldview.
Just this week, the students participated in the Social Innovation Challenge, which is a competition that empowers students to create real-world solutions to humanitarian issues. This year’s challenge invited students to come up with solutions to tackle youth drug abuse in Ethiopia. Competing against a team from a school in Las Vegas, the winning team gets a chance to see their solution implemented in a community in Ethiopia.
World Vision is one of the largest Christian humanitarian organizations in the world, working in nearly 100 countries. Through the organization’s efforts every 30 seconds, a family gets water, a hungry child is fed, and a family receives the tools to overcome poverty.
Ontario Christian High School will launch the World Vision Ignite partnership with nearly 100 9th grade students, who will build relationships with their sponsored child in Kenya through the remainder of their high school career at Ontario. They will also learn about the root causes of poverty and how to tackle critical world issues. By connecting with vulnerable kids in the developing world, students will gain empathy, learn to love their neighbors, and provide tangible help to meet the basic needs of others. The students will also lead out on local action, to help neighbors in need in the Los Angeles area.
About World Vision:
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.?For more information, please visit https://www.worldvision.org/about-us/media-center or follow us on Twitter @WorldVisionUSA.
