The Ida B.Wells Chapter of Building with Books at FDA


Building with Books is a nationwide non-profit organization that provides students across the country with leadership, community service, and global education opportunities. Students are encouraged to participate in weekly community service projects that take place on Saturday mornings or Sunday afternoons. Our students have the unique opportunity to generate fundraisers and contribute these funds to the Building with Books organization. The organization sets out each year to build schools in developing nations utilizing the money generated by students across America. Last year schools were built in Nicaragua and Mali. Moreover, two students from the Frederick Douglass Academy were selected to travel to Mali, live within the community, and begin the construction of the school over a two week period, all expenses paid. This organization is a great way for students to build their own leadership skills while standing out in the internship and college application process. All high school and middle school students are welcome and encouraged to participate. More specific information will follow regarding weekly meeting dates and times.

FDA Visits Nepal

In February  2001, Dr. Annette Hansen, a Japanese/Social Studies teacher at The Frederick Douglass Academy and Ebony Natasha Blue - a  Building with Books (BwB) club member traveled to Nepal with BwB team of 18 high-school students and teachers. During their three-week stay in Nepal, they lived in the remote village, Khalla Gaon. The main objective of their stay was to help build a schoolhouse in Khalla Gaon to replace the straw and cow dung hut presently used as a school. They worked on the construction site with the villagers an average of five hours a day, learning to carry bricks on their heads, mixing cement, digging the foundation, and laying brick. while they were in the village they slept and ate in the homes of villagers. The homes were built of straw and a mixture of mud and cow dung, the food was rice and lentils for lunch and dinner every day, and the bathing and toilet facilities were outside behind straw walls. They also visited sites of cultural, historical, and religious significance in the capital of Katmandu and in the Western part of Nepal. The Trek for Knowledge was an amazing learning experience and both FDA participants would be happy to share their experiences with anybody interested in hearing more.

For the past three years, Serge Ambroise, a social studies teacher at Frederick Douglass Academy, has served as the faculty advisor for the Ida B. Wells Chapter of Building with Books. BWB members have performed a number of community service activities. Every Christmas season, BWB members collect gifts from their fellow students and staff members of FDA to bring to the children of a local homeless shelter. Members set up a weekly tutoring schedule to work woth the students of a nearby elementary school. To help raise funds for BWB, the Ida B. Wells Chapter members have organized an annual basketball tournament, held an annual car wash, and bake sales.

Members of BWB have enjoyed some unique opportunities. The organization recently started to sponsor two annual 'Treks for Knowledge.' These Treks are excursions to developing countries where BWB is building schools. Faculty advisors, social studies teachers, and students go on these trips. The goal is twofold: firstly, the trips provide global studies teachers with the opportunity to actually travel to the places studied in class. Teachers take pictures used for slides, prepare a video, and collect items from the local culture. Secondly, the Trek for Knowledge provides an invaluable opportunity for high school students to visit a distant part of the world, interact with the people in the village, and experience firsthand the life of people living in developing nations.



In February of 1999, Richard Dillon, a global studies teacher at Frederick Douglass, and Najla Lyles, a BWB member, traveled together to Nepal with a number of other teachers and students. In the remote village of Jabki, nestled in the Himalaya Mountains, not too far from Mount Everest, the students and their teachers helped the villagers build a school. During the three weeks they were in Nepal, they lived in the village and they also traveled to Kathmandu to see sites of cultural, historical, and religious significance. A year later, Darryl Rascoe, also a global studies teacher at FDA, traveled with club member Christopher Lettley to the west African country of Mali, with other BWB students and faculty advisors from participating schools around the United States. They visited the capital of Bamako, and lived in the village of Bougoula, where they helped the locals build a school with mud bricks prepared and baked on the site. Upon their return from Nepal and Mali, the students and teachers provided lively presentations to the club as well as to the community, and to the global studies classes at Frederick Douglass Academy. 



Finally, BWB has also been instrumental and helpful in developing curriculum materials for high school global studies classes. 



Through BWB activities, club members gain valuable experience which helps them become sensitive of their community, better global citizens, strong leaders, and well-rounded students. Club officers attend an annual leadership conference. 


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