Current ASP World Surfing Champion Joel Parkinson swapped his surfboard for books today when he visited Barrenjoey High, on Sydney’s northern beaches, as the newest ambassador for the SurfAid Schools Program.

Parkinson, 32, addressed an assembly of enthralled students before joining a classroom group for a SurfAid lesson on geography. ‘Parko’ was the first at his table to find Bali on the map.  “I used to love geography – it was my favourite subject,” he said.

Parkinson said he was stoked when SurfAid asked him to be an ambassador. “It's a huge honour, especially for something that does so much good. It was a no-brainer for me to jump on board. I want to raise awareness around the world as much as I can and show the world what SurfAid do."





The SurfAid Schools Program, which is supported by Billabong, is an international education program that aims to develop global citizenship values. It uses the humanitarian challenges and achievements of non-profit organisation SurfAid as an educational example for action.

Pioneered at Barrenjoey High in 2007, the SurfAid Schools program has more than 2,000 schools registered in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The schools can access free, online educational material with subjects ranging from health and economics to history and geography.



surfaidschools.org

“One of the best things about the program is the way it engages both teachers and students on important global issues,” SurfAid Schools Program Manager Milton Brown said. 

Addressing the students, Brown said: “The real message behind this program is about being a good global citizen, about how you perceive the world, and about what contributions you are going to make to the world as you move forward.  That is the choice that you will need to make as individuals.



“It's about making you think about what it means to really help other people in an educated and meaningful sort of way, not in a self-pitying or sad kind of way,” he said.

Brown said it was a privilege to share the space with Parkinson today. “To honour him as world champion first of all, and also to accept him as an ambassador for the SurfAid Schools Program is really a great honour.

“Having one of the most popular and recognisable surfing athletes in your corner only enhances the program’s buy-in and popularity. Joel is a terrific role model for young students and we greatly appreciate his endorsement," Brown said.

Of the visit, Parko said he especially enjoyed the interaction with the students where they asked questions ranging from why it’s important to support SurfAid to who is the most annoying surfer on the ASP world tour.

“The students’ questions were really refreshing - totally open and honest, no filters,” Parkinson said.

The Paddle for Humanity in Tairua, New Zealand, this year was the best yet. In spite of the pre-event nerves caused by shark activity, 200 people took to the water in support of the Mentawai people and the rest pioneered the Tairua Walk for Humanity. 

The Manager of the SurfAid Schools Program, Milton Brown, was very impressed with the turnout. “Tairua is a great example of a small surfing community with a very big heart,” Brown said. “The way they join together to help another community in need is living proof that local action creates global citizenship."

Tairua School Principal Brendan Finn said he was completely overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm shown by the students, parents and community for the Paddle for Humanity. “This event was once again a huge success for everyone involved and the new format worked exceptionally well,” Finn said. “There is an old saying - 'through crisis comes opportunity'. We had a difficult preparation for this year’s paddle due to the shark activity in and around the harbour, and as a result we introduced the Walk for Humanity, which was a gem of an idea and has provided us with the vehicle to further grow and develop this event.”



The Tairua community raised $6,500 this year, with a total of $14,500 raised over the past three years. Finn is proud of the financial contribution they have made to the building of a new school in Masokut, on Sipora Island, after a tsunami devastated the original village in 2010.  

He is equally excited by the effect the students’ initiative is having on the local community, with people working creatively to further develop the concept of Global Citizenship on a larger community scale.

“Already businesses and sponsorship have been endorsed for 2014 and we will be reviewing this year’s event with our students to ensure next year’s is bigger and better,” Finn said.

Tairua School would like to thank the following sponsors who contributed towards the 2013, Paddle for Humanity, On A Mission, Anderson Surfboards, Punters Bar and Grill, 8 Club Holdings, Sea Escape, Billabong, RPM, Beyond the Blue and Puka Park.

Year 9 students hard at work on their Map-a-thon fundraiser for SurfAid

Year 9 students at Glenfield College in Auckland, New Zealand participated in a fundraiser and awareness raising activity to support  SurfAid.  The class had been studying SurfAid as part of their Social Studies course and took part in a  map-a-thon that raised $160.

This was a massive effort from a small class of students who sought sponsors to donate money based to their Map-a thon efforts. The money will be used to help rebuild the school in Masokut that was destroyed in the 2010 Mentawai tsunami. Their teacher, Miranda Wingfield, was really impressed with the students’ commitment and efforts to raise the sponsorship money.  Glenfield college will be introducing a much larger study of  SurfAid in 2013 so watch this space more developments. 

Photo: Dane Peterson

Check out our new website with new design and layout, and greatly improved accessibility. You can now create your own “My Resources” section and easily manage all your downloaded materials. These resources are still free, thanks to Billabong, and your existing login details access your past collection of materials.

Other new features include an events calendar for SURF-N-SERVE with on-line sign-up, new SURFAID After School and College Club materials and a “suggest or submit a new resource” section.

Our team recently collected new film from the field so we will be producing a number of short video stories with accompanying study guides. We will add these new resources as they are developed. 
 

Photo: Duncan Macfarlane

THERE'S MORE TO SURFING
Our use of surfing to engage students and highlight the humanitarian work of Surfaid continues to occupy a special place in education. Our main focus is to develop an understanding of the values that underpin global citizenship and, at the same time, show that “there’s more to surfing” than just catching waves.

We hope you continue to use this site to enhance your teaching and please feel free to give us your feedback and suggestions.



FUNDRAISING FOR MASOKUT SCHOOL
We have raised more than half the funds needed to build a new school in the Mentawai village of Masokut so many thanks to all who have contributed. The land is being cleared and a new concrete path is being built to the new site. Read more ...



BILLABONG EXTENDS SCHOOLS PROGRAM FUNDING
Thanks to Billabong who have funded the schools program for the past five years. The recent contract extension will allow us to continue to roll out the program around the world.  Watch for new collaborative activities in the future.


Left to right: Grace, Haylee, Hannah,Wairata, Emilye, Helen, Paige

YEAR 12 ROTORUA GIRLS HIGH STUDENTS RAISE MONEY FOR SURFAID
Paige Peacock writes: “My group decided that we wanted to help support SurfAid’s ‘Water & Sanitation’ program, and to do this we would hold a bake sale on Thursday 23 August to help raise money. We decided to support this particular program as we thought that it was one of the most important ones as access to clean water is vital to the health of any community. We agreed with SurfAid’s objective to facilitate the improvement of access to water in the Mentawai Islands, and we wanted to support and help the people of the Mentawai Islands to have access to fresh clean water to drink and use in everyday situations. Supporting and fundraising for this program would hopefully result in a decrease in numbers of deaths, diseases and child mortality rates.” 

MESSAGE FOR NEW ZEALAND TEACHERS
It has been an exciting six months with some great examples of how SurfAid resources can be used in the New Zealand classroom. Check our schools website in the coming month to see what New Zealand schools have been up to. 

We have refined our New Zealand primary unit “Crossing the Divide” and will be introducing a new unit based on the Mentawai and Maori practice of tattooing at the start of next year.

As you plan for 2013 don’t forget we offer a free service to help teachers adapt SurfAid Schools Program resources to suit your learners’ needs at secondary or primary levels. Just contact our New Zealand Program Director, Adele Hatton adele@surfaidinternational.org, to take advantage of this offer. The schools program is funded by Billabong and we also have prize packs available for schools to support student initiatives.



UCSD AND SURFAID PARTNERSHIP
The SURFAID Schools Program is proud to announce the development of an ongoing partnership with University of California, San Diego's K-16 Extension Office to offer The Science of Surfing. This is a class for high school students that will take place on four Saturdays from 9am to 12pm at UCSD, beginning on Saturday, October 27 and ending Saturday, November 17.

The Science of Surfing will explore the science that explains how waves form, and the engineering of surfboards that allows them to glide through the water at great speeds, resisting the forces of friction and drag.  But wait!  It's not all science!  The class will also explore the history of surfing as it has spread from its origins in the Hawaiian Island chain all the way across the world, to one of the most isolated regions in the world, the Mentawai and Nias islands, where SurfAid works to improve the health, wellbeing and self-reliance of people in isolated regions of the world connected to us through surfing.  Finally, students will also have the chance to design their own ideal surfboard after exploring how and why surfboards are designed today.  The final class will take place in Pacific Beach, where students will participate in the SurfAid School's program monthly SURF-N-SERVE event.

If you are interested in attending this class, or know of someone who might be, please feel free to forward this information.  This is our first class of this kind and would love all of our great supporters to pass this information on to those that might be interested in the San Diego region.

Anyone interested in registering a student for this class should register on the UCSD Extension website HERE.

Any questions can be directed to the US SurfAid School's Program Manager, Andrea Yoder Clark: andrea@surfaidinternational.org

Looking forward to seeing our students connect science to surfing and put their learning into action!



SURF-N-SERVE US
Our monthly SURF-N-SERVE events, which are now taking place in all three southern California counties, are growing in popularity.

As a reminder, each SURF-N-SERVE event offers participants the opportunity to attend a free surf lesson (for the first 15 people to sign up), or just join us in the water if you already know how. As well there’s the chance to help keep our beaches clean and learn about what it means to be a global citizen, using the example of SURFAID’s founder, Dr Dave Jenkins, as an educational example for action. 

We have been very excited to see interest in our SURF-N-SERVE events rise over the last few months.  Due to the amazing support of our local surf shop partners, we have been able to consistently offer 15 free surf lessons at each San Diego county SURF-N-SERVE and we are close to reaching this mark in Orange County as well.  Los Angeles County, our newest addition to the SURFAID SURF-N-SERVE family, is also gearing up to join us in offering consistent surf lessons at monthly events.

The increase in interest in San Diego is a foreshadowing of what's to come in Orange and Los Angeles Counties.  We are completely sold out for surf lessons through December at all of our San Diego SURF-N-SERVE events. Wow!  What a great showing of support and a great opportunity for our surf shop partners to market the high quality of their lessons and instruction.

If you have been lucky enough to receive lessons during one of our SURF-N-SERVE events, please feel free to pass on a recommendation for the surf lessons offered by our partners in your community.

And, if you have recently discovered the best kept secret in San Diego, SURFAID’s monthly SURF-N-SERVE events, then please, pass on the fun to your friends as well.

If you have not had the chance to enjoy a free surf lesson yet, don't worry! We will be offering the same opportunities from February through May in 2013. We will be publishing the 2013 dates for our SURF-N-SERVE monthly events in January 2013 - so stay tuned!

Thank you again for all of your generous support for SURFAID, the work we do in the Mentawai Islands and the amazing opportunities we offer communities, schools and families here in the US.

We are looking forward to seeing you at our next SURF-N-SERVE event!

Photos Duncan Macfarlane / Surfing World

The 2010 Mentawai tsunami wreaked a wide path of destruction in the island chain and wiped out the village of Masokut, on Sipora Island.

With the help of SurfAid, the Masokut community has since rebuilt their village on higher ground, safe from another tsunami.  However the children, aged seven to 10, are being taught in a one-room timber shack that has plastic sheeting for walls.

After the tsunami, SurfAid’s Psychosocial Support Program team ran activities that helped the children return to a normal routine and reduce the effects of the trauma, and the school building was constructed as a temporary structure.

“To say the school is ‘basic’ is an understatement,” said SurfAid Schools Program manager Milton Brown. “The ‘desks’ are simple square pieces of timber for the children to write on but they have to sit on the floor, which is rough-hewn timber with cracks. In this cramped space, three dedicated teachers are doing their best to educate the future of Masokut.”





Brown, who hails from Sydney’s northern beaches, said $25,000 was needed to build a six-room school with toilets. “Avalon Lions Club generously donated $6,000 towards the project, retired Pittwater High teacher Evan Jeffrey organised a fundraiser at Avalon RSL that raised another $2,000, and Craig Finniss and Bobby Sox also raised $2,000, so we thank everyone who has contributed so far,” he said. 

Former Pittwater Mayor Alex McTaggart, who was on a surf charter boat with fellow Avalon surfers when the tsunami struck during the night in October 2010, helped raise the Lions Club funds.

“Nine Avalon surfers were in the area and we went ashore on the island of South Pagai. There had been a small village opposite the surf break but nothing could prepare us for the utter destruction and loss of life,” McTaggart said.  

“We did what we could to assist providing water, food and medicine and making sure the authorities in Padang, on the mainland, were aware of the situation.  



“As we received a lot of media coverage we decided to raise some funds through the Avalon Lions Club to assist in the recovery of these villages and working with SurfAid was the best avenue to help.” 

Milton Brown, a former teacher at Barrenjoey High, which is nestled at the northern end of Avalon Beach, said what was heart-warming about the project was that a village elder, Bapak Marsius, had decided to donate the land for the new school.

“Marsius had limited access to education and he survives by farming cocoa and other cash crops to support his family. But his eldest daughter is finishing her university degree in Jakarta and she said she would return to the village and teach in the school,” Brown said.





Marsius met with SurfAid staff recently to show them the land he is donating, which is in a safe zone high above any possible tsunami. The government will build a road close to the land and the school will be in the middle of the village, making it easy for the children to get there from both north and south of the village.  

Marsius’s smile never faded while he spoke of how excited he was about the new development in his village. “We are grateful for this school,” he said. “I talked to my family and we all agree, our children’s education is the best way for us to get out of poverty.”

Milton Brown said SurfAid and the community will work together to build the new school and the regional Mentawai Government will also assist with funding. 



“We have received the permission of the local government to build the new school and it will involve the community doing the work under our technical construction guidance,” Brown said.

“The level we work on with our programs is to liaise closely with the local government re the needs of the communities, and have the permission and support of local government so as to promote sustainability and independence.

“When resources are limited, little things can help so much. The people of Masokut and the Mentawai are hard working, willing and full of hope.  Let’s make this dream happen for them.”

If you wish to donate to the project, please contact Milton Brown.  
E: milton@surfaidinternational.org W: +61 2 9965 7325

The US SurfAid Schools Program has been working with ninth grade teachers in the School of Digital Media Design at San Diego’s Kearny High School to use the story of SurfAid as an educational example for action.  

The ninth grade students have enjoyed attending SurfAid’s monthly SURF-N-SERVE events where students are asked to be global citizens by cleaning up the beaches in their own communities once a month.  

In their classes, DMD students have helped create sample logos for the SurfAid Schools Program and developed a website highlighting SurfAid's work.  To culminate their work with the DMD ninth grade class, SurfAid has sponsored a logo contest on Facebook, as well as a Facebook web design contest where winners will have their work honored by Billabong.

The US SurfAid Schools Program was recently nominated for a local schools award for their work at Kearny High School. 

SURFAID SCHOOLS PROGRAM TEACHER WORKSHOP

‘There's More to Surfing - Developing Global Citizens’ 

Teachers from Kearny High will be featuring their work at the third annual teachers workshop to be held at Billabong’s Irvine HQ on Saturday June 23rd. 

If you are registered as a teacher on our surfaidschools.org website you will receive an invite to the workshop.  

Please register if you wish to attend or contact: andrea@surfaidinternational.org

In this article, US SurfAid Schools Program manager, Dr Andrea Yoder-Clark, beautifully articulates the importance of business and education working closely together to achieve inspired high quality outcomes for the future.

Recently, I had the luxury of being inspired in an unlikely place.  As I sat in the movie theater, watching Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, the main character, Ted, lifted my spirit with his love inspired actions that changed his world.  I walked away from that movie thinking about times in my own life when I have acted out of love as a mother, a wife, a former teacher or now as a business owner, and how good those moments felt.  I realized that those moments of inspired action all shared one thing in common, a thought that was unique enough to make a difference, but similar enough to be understood.  And, I couldn’t help thinking that inspired action is not acted on nearly enough in business.

Last week in the San Diego Business Journal, Qualcom co-founder Irwin Jacobs and local bio tech CEO Phillip Lowe spoke from a place of inspired action, asking us to stretch our minds to consider the links between business and education. These business leaders asked future mayoral candidates to re-brand San Diego as an “entrepreneurial hub”, and at the same time reminded us all that high quality public schools attract high quality employees.  Now that is inspired action… asking business to invest in future success by supporting struggling public schools today.  This idea is unique, yet realistic. And, that got me excited.

UNSETTLING CHANGES
As a mother with children in San Diego public schools, I have worried as the number of students in their classes has risen and enrichment programs have disappeared.  As a former public school teacher, it has pained me to watch the workload go up, while teachers’ salaries go down.  As a scholar of education, my doctoral work taught me the importance of small classes, high quality committed teachers and high standards.  Unfortunately, my doctoral work also taught me how few students graduate today with the skills necessary to succeed in college or get jobs in our information economy.

Recently, the Union Tribune reported that one third of California’s public school students attend school districts facing financial insolvency.  Seven of these districts are in San Diego County, including Carlsbad Unified.  Carlsbad, a middle-to-high income north county community, is not a city you would traditionally expect to find on this list. Carlsbad Unified expects to cut 20% of its teachers in order to bridge a 6.4 million dollar budget gap, forcing officials to hand out 160 pink slips next month. 

Maybe Irwin Jacobs and Phillip Lowe are on to something. If there was ever a time for business to build innovative partnerships with public education, the time is now. In Dr. Seuss’ great parable, The Lorax, business gobbles up available resources, leaving nothing but "gluppity-glup and schloppity schlopp”.   In the end, facing a wasteland where the forest once stood, the Lorax, the voice of the trees, leaves the corporate giant, the Once-ler, with nothing but the word, “unless” embedded in a rock.  "What’s an 'unless'?", asks Ted, the boy inspired by love to look for a real tree long after the demise of the forest.  “A thought about something that somebody ought”, answers the Once-ler.

JOINING FORCES
In San Diego, businesses have clearly had "thoughts about something that somebody ought” and are beginning to address the crisis in public schools.  The UT partnered with San Diego’s United Way Chapter, launching the Volunteer 4 Education campaign that boasts over 10,000 volunteers in K-12 schools since its launch in September. Direct links between business and schools are being fostered through an ongoing collaboration between Mission Federal Credit Union and the San Diego County Office of Education with its Re-Energize Education events and a promising web site will launch this month, The Legacy Link Marketplace, that links local business’ corporate social responsibility initiatives to education programs.  

Similar initiatives have begun to sprout up all over California and the nation at large.  In Sacramento, a group called LEED links education, workforce development and the economy.  In December 2011, an article in the Wall Street Journal commented on the role business partnerships can play in education success.  While business’ recent interest in education is commendable, it is important to make sure that education partners benefit as much as business’ marketing departments. The calls of Dr. Seuss’ Once-ler’s big business mantra, ring true, “Listen here! Here's a wonderful chance, for the whole Once-ler family to get mighty rich!”

Opponents to business education partnerships have cited similar concerns, wary of direct marketing to students. Business has also avoided school partnerships due to the potential of bureaucratic red tape and overwhelmed, under-resourced teachers.  The cautionary tones of Dr. Seuss’ Lorax reflected in this quote are real, “They say I'm old-fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!"  While this growing trend is promising.  It is something to watch.

As I sat in the movie theater watching The Lorax on Dr. Seuss’ birthday, I found myself hoping as a mother, a former teacher and a scholar of education that the business community in San Diego would heed Irwin Jacob’s call and work to improve our public schools in ways that bring real progress to those that matter most, the kids. In dire times like these, the words of Dr. Seuss’ Once-ler have never been more true. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothings going to get better. It's not.”

 - Linking Business to Educational Success is Crucial to Long Term Economic Growth, Dr. Andrea Yoder Clark,©2012

Seventy young people from around New Zealand and Asia gathered in Tauranga, New Zealand, to brainstorm ways to strengthen relations between New Zealand and Asia. 

The Asia New Zealand Foundation’s Young Leaders Network Reunion was organized to mark five years since the network’s beginning and was the start of a four-day conference for participants. The young leaders reflected on what the network had achieved and discussed ways it can contribute further to increasing New Zealanders’ understanding of Asia. 

Endah Setyaningsih, SurfAid’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer in Nias, was invited to speak to conference delegates about her experience of growing up in Indonesia and her work with communities in Nias. 

Endah also joined three young leaders when they visited Papamoa College in Tauranga to talk to a group of Year 9 and 10 students. The students were really keen to hear from people living and working in Asia and especially Endah’s experience growing up in Jakarta and her work for SurfAid.

SurfAid’s Schools Program representatives took the opportunity to have Endah visit schools taking part in the program in Coromandel. This unique experience allowed the students to interact and ask questions about Endah’s experience of working in isolated regions of Nias and what is involved in the field work she does monitoring community health programs.

Tairua Year 7 and 8 students were preparing for their third annual ‘Paddle for Humanity’ event where the proceeds go to the ‘Malaria Still Sucks’ program and the visit from Endah gave the students a firsthand account of the problem that malaria represents and the Mother and Child Health programs that Endah is currently helping to develop in Nias.

Ripeando Magazine has formed a strategic alliance with the SurfAid Schools Program, with the goal of supporting the growing surf movement and inspiring the message of global citizenship in Latin America.  Billabong has supported the SurfAid Schools Program to spread its message of surfers as global citizens in the USA, Australia and New Zealand. This program uses the example of SurfAid’s founder, Dr Dave Jenkins, to demonstrate what it means to be an active global citizen. This alliance will investigate ways of bringing this example to surfing communities in Latin America. 

Recently, Latino riders have noticeably increased their presence in the ISA World Games both in their performance and influence. Currently, half of the countries rated in the top 10 are from South America, although there is still plenty of work to do.  

Several countries around the world have supported surf teams and clubs in schools, such as Australia, France, the United States and Brazil. The SurfAid Schools Program is different.  The SurfAid Schools Program provides free online curriculum to teachers that links surfing and the message of global citizenship to academic content standards.  SurfAid believes that kids will want to learn science, math, social studies and English when you link the concepts to something that kids enjoy - surfing! 

Ripeando Magazine is a great partner for spreading SurfAid’s message to the Hispanic community.  Ripeando will act as the liaison, providing a clear channel for information and communication, but will also act as a strategic partner to help link the identity of global citizenship to the surfing community.  We believe this partnership will help usher in a new view of surfing across the continent.

Sergio Martins, Editor in Chief of Ripeando, said during the meeting: “At Ripeando we want to educate and give a positive message through the contents of our magazine. In the same way, we always care about giving something in exchange for what surfing gives us. This partnership with SurfAid will allow us to benefit many children in Latin-America and, at the same time, it will help eliminate the negative stereotypes around being a surfer.”

Ripeando has been volunteering at SurfAid’s San Diego SURF-N-SERVE events to help spread the message of global citizenship to local Latin students.  Andrea Yoder Clark, SurfAid’s US Schools Program Coordinator said: “We noticed that many Latin children come to our program here in the US. Having Ripeando by our side will allow us to break language barriers and help our message reach new frontiers.”

There are many plans for the partnership with SurfAid in 2012.  We are very excited about this alliance and equally happy to do our bit for future generations.

More than 200 people participated in the second annual Paddle for Humanity for SurfAid at Tairua, on New Zealand’s North Island, on Saturday 19 November.

Tairua School students organized the event and raised $5,500 with the support of their principal Brendan Finn, teachers and the local community.  SurfAid founder Dr Dave Jenkins started the paddle and joined in and he thanked the schoolchildren and community for their support of children in need in the Mentawai Islands. 

“The money raised will supply two communities with insecticide-treated mosquito nets and help reduce needless suffering and death from malaria,” Dr Dave said. 

Reducing malaria infection rates in the Mentawai was SurfAid’s first campaign 10 years ago and remains one of its most effective.

SurfAid has reached more than 300 communities with innovative educational programs and specially-treated mosquito nets. But the nets are due to be replaced as their useful lives wear out.

“Over the next 12 months, we need to supply 30,000 nets to cover our target villages in the Mentawai. It costs $10 to purchase one new net and $3 to deliver it to a family,” he said.

The plan for each village is to distribute the nets, test all children under 9 for the malaria parasite and provide re-education of the significance of malaria in terms of health and economic development.

“We also need to ensure communities understand the particular significance of malaria prevention in pregnant women and children under five,” Dr Dave said.

“The new nets will create a protective ‘insecticide halo’ around villages that assists to disrupt the parasite cycle of infection and re-infection.” 

SurfAid Schools Program NZ co-ordinator Adele Hatton introduced the global citizenship concept to Tairua School and since then it has been embraced by the students and staff. Principal Brendan Finn said: “This is a day that we believe is very unique – it has become a definite annual event.”

SurfAid would like to thank sponsors Express Couriers, Pete Anderson Surfboards, Billabong, OAM and the many community members who made this such a special day.