Education to Overcome

Brighter Pages is proud to have launched its first ever seminar! This year's topic is "Education to overcome". We teamed up with three student groups - Global Aid, Social Justice and Development & Progress - from St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School in Oakville, Ontario to organize a week-long event. The seminar featured a speaker presentation followed by a workshop as well as interactive exhibits that aim to highlight how education is key to empowering youth, particularly those from less fortunate financial or social backgrounds. Check it out!

200+

participants

We are honoured to have had Mrs. Ngoc Giau Pham as the speaker. In sharing how education has helped her escape the poverty cycle, her story revealed to the students the complex barriers in attaining education as well as the power of education in the context of poverty.

"Thanks Elizabeth and Ethan for a wonderful workshop.

This presentation and workshop activity would be very beneficial for any student who is enrolled in economics in the future when studying topics of income inequality and the poverty cycle and the importance of education to breaking the poverty cycle." - Suzanne

Sneak Peek👀

Here are some of Mrs. Pham most memorable quotes at the seminar

"Even though our family was very poor and there were many kids to feed, my parents still tried their best to support us through school with the hope that one day, we would be able to escape this poverty"

THE SIMULATION

Following the speaker, students were invited to participate in a workshop, specifically a self-directed simulation. Students simulated the life of an impoverished family in rural Vietnam and were tasked to choose different decisions in different scenarios with the goal to have all their children attend school while ensuring that there is food on the table. From the simulation, students realized:

These circumstances are not uncommon to people of low-income areas
Obstacles to education are complex
Youth education can be endangered without sufficient resources

TRY OUR SIMULATION

Collaborations

In addition to the speaker and workshop event, we collaborated with the Global Aid Club, Social Justice Club and Development & Peace Club to organize events that further explores the themes discussed in the speaker event. This included interactive activities highlighting the pertinence of poverty around the world as well as a fundraiser.

The Global Aid Club

Notably, the Global Aid Club, led by one of Brighter Pages' CoFounder, organized a school raffle to fundraise towards building a water storage tank for Sanangula Primary School in Tanzania, Africa through Chalice.

$288

Fundraised

Thank you!

"We would like to thank you all school administration and teachers, especially the principal, Mr. Perusin and Mrs. Camastro for helping us make this event possible. Thank you to the Global Aid, Social Justice and Development & Peace Club for joining us in illuminating the vicious poverty cycle and taking action towards breaking it. Thank you to all students, teachers and staff for participating and

we hope that it was successful in bringing another perspective on education and poverty!"