By: Sofia Olmstead, Gracie Sacripanti, Allegra Solari, and Catherine Zontine
Goals Beyond the Net, a charity organization founded by Wakefield alumna and avid soccer player, Diane Leggette, has found a new home on Wakefield's campus. Diane and her family have been working in Jacmel, Haiti providing sustainable lifestyles for impoverished children through the sport of soccer.
As seniors, our goal for Wakefield is to create global awareness for Goals Beyond the Net (GBTN) and to extend the idea of service to places outside our immediate community.
GBTN supports the growth of education through sponsorship by sending children to the elite Vie de France school in the town of Jacmel. In order to attend the school, children work towards objectives established by GBTN. For example, the Character Counts program, modeled after our very own Wakefield Lower School, challenges and teaches the children about the virtues of honesty, courtesy, and responsibility. Additionally, the Goat program gives a goat to a family as a source of sustainable income. The goat supplies the family with milk they can sell. Even better, a family can gift a neighbor with the offspring from their goat, helping to further support their community. As for soccer, the children involved in GBTN participate in the Jacmel United Soccer Club. Because of the club, the children learn to succeed through hard work and the support of their team. In fact, playing soccer reinforces those values taught in the Character Counts program. The club champions kids who excel in their schoolwork, with their teammates, and within their community.
For the 2017-2018 school year, we have begun working with Dr. Leggette, Diane's mother, to create a partnership between Wakefield and GBTN. As a team, our first goal was to raise awareness about the charity within our school. To accomplish this, we decided to "take over" homecoming week, challenging students to make a difference in the world and donate supplies to schoolchildren living over a 1,400 miles away from us. We asked students for toiletries, such as shampoo and toothpaste, as well as lightly used shoes and cleats, and monetary donations. Our community came together to support the charity and we were able to collect six giant containers of much-needed shoes and toiletries. With the money donated, Wakefield School will be able to give 25 families a viable source of income, their very own goat. Next, we are planning a summer soccer tournament to continue raising funds and linking these two communities.
If you have any questions or are interested in participating in Goals Beyond the Net, please contact Allegra Solari (solarial@wakefieldschool.org).