CASE STUDY: The Sports Equipment Project

The students at Abbasaya School were frustrated. The lunch period was the only time they
had for exercise during the school day, but with no sports equipment, there was little they
could do in the dusty school yard. A few older students wanted to know what could be done.
They asked as many students as they could about what sports they would like to play during
the lunch period. They found that some students wanted to play football while others
preferred basketball. They talked to the school principal and learned that she thought
students did not take care of sports equipment so she did not want to spend any money to
buy new equipment.

The students decided that they needed to both raise money and educate their friends about
how to care for the equipment. They figured out how much money they needed and made a
plan to raise the money through a school dance and asking for donations from community
businesses. They also asked the school’s technical education teacher to give lesson on how
to patch a deflated football, how to maintain an air pump, and how to make a basketball
hoop and soccer goal.

Next, the students organised their classmates to help. Some set a date, advertised, found a
band, and sold tickets for the dance. Others visited local businesses to ask for donations.
Still others agreed to take the lessons from the technical education teacher.

After about five weeks, the students met to

see whether they were making progress.
They realised that they needed to sell more
tickets in order for the dance to be a good
fundraiser. A few businesses donated
money but not very much. The owner of a
grocery store would not give any money but
agreed to donate some food if they wanted
it. When people learned that there would be
food at the dance, the students were able to
sell more tickets.

When the school principal saw the success

of the dance and how much money had
been raised, she made a personal
contribution to the equipment fund. She also
cleaned out a closet to store the equipment
and supplies. After several more weeks, the
students purchased the equipment and
installed the basketball hoops and football
goals. During the graduation ceremony at
the end of the school year, the student
organisers made a special announcement to
thank everyone who had contributed to the
sports equipment fund.