1

Elizabeth Schulte Schulte

Mr. Evans
Project Write-Up
27 January 2023

National Honors Society Project Write-up

Little Flower Mission Badarwas is located in one of the poorest places in the world;
Bardarwas, India. Many poor girls in Badarwas don’t have the opportunity to learn, but this
shelter would allow them to. In 1995, 10 catholic families moved from their homes, suffering
from drought and a lack of work. The families decided to resettle to the village of Badarwas in
hopes of finding work. The presence of catholicism in this village encouraged priests to come
and host spiritual services. In 2004, a bishop and an appointed priest started the mission. The
priest rented a one-room house and gradually invested in the land to accommodate both the
house and a church. However, the construction faced a problem. Accessible resources were
scarce, so a prayer hall made of tin sheets was built. The hall was expanded to house the priest as
well. This hall is present today but now is utilized for providing shelter to tribal girls from
impoverished families who are focusing on continuing their studies/graduating high school and
working in nearby towns. The shelter has proven successful, for many of the girls have graduated
and earned jobs teaching at educational establishments and schools. As of now, 30 girls have
transitioned out of this house. If a house were to be built, I can only imagine the number of
graduates and the impact they would have on their families' life.
The shelter is now 15 years old and has endured many harsh conditions. Severe weather
caused the shelter to crumble forming large cracks in the walls and floors. This has allowed
snakes and other poisonous insects to crawl into the shelter, especially at night. The cracks allow
water to enter through in times of rainy weather. Also, the shelter, made of tin sheets, rusts in this
weather and further falls apart. Therefore, the roof needs to be replaced. The people of this
village were told by the government department that the building is abandoned after an
inspection, but with no shelter nine girls would have their academic careers come to an end.
A shelter would provide poor girls with a safe and dependable home for completing their
education. This would give rise to no less than 100 girls graduating high school over the course
of the next 15 years. These girls would lead as examples for the other young girls in the
community. This would not only benefit the girls but also their families' quality of life. In
addition, this would lend a hand in changing the perception of women and it would enlighten the
community on the importance of educating women. The girls of this shelter better themselves
and others. They visit the nearby villages and teach the fundamentals of education in preparation
for primary school to the children in the area.
This inspired my decision to pursue a leadership project. I presented my project proposal
to Mr. Caprarella with the intention of selling baked goods at the school store. Unfortunately,
this conflicted with other school initiatives and so I adapted my proposal and inquired about
selling in the cafeteria. Unfortunately, this was declined as well. I went back to Mr. Caprarella
 2

with the news and after some brainstorming, he allowed me to run the bake sale out of his
classroom. My plan was to bring baked goods in on Monday and sell them through Thursday. I
did not bring baked goods in on Friday to not compete with Cookie Friday sales. I baked a wide
array of confections. This includes chocolate-covered Oreos, chocolate chip cookies, brownies,
cupcakes, double chocolate drop cookies, cake pops, and more. I enlisted the help of some
friends. I entrusted them with baking, advertising, designing flyers, and promoting. Bridget
Klupa was kind enough to bake sugar cookies and M+M cookies. Elena Guarneri aided with
promoting the bake sale by texting out the baked goods of the day as well as leading WOM
advertising. Gretchen Uthoff helped with designing promotional flyers and advertising. I baked,
decorated, packaged, and labeled each baked good. As well as providing the ingredients for
students with dietary restrictions and allergies. My intention was to sell out each day and bring
fresh baked goods daily. For the most part, this goal was accomplished within a day or two each
week. I was hoping to collect at least $100 and I raised $168. An ongoing goal of mine is to
continue to follow the progress of Little Mission’s construction and support their efforts by
organizing bake sales at my church on Sundays in the future.