REMINDER! Vote to help Oakland International High School!
sara newman
Thank you!
Dear Friends,
On Friday, October 28th, we received big news from Carmelita Reyes, principal of Oakland International. Chosen out of 700 schools, Oakland International High School is currently 1 of 15 finalists in a $100,000 contest hosted by Microsoft. To win the “Our School Needs” contest, Carmelita needs all friends of Internationals schools to vote and mobilize other people to vote online for the Oakland International school project! Oakland International, a California public school, is facing severe budget cuts and your vote and support can leverage significant support. Please consider what "viral" ways you may have to share this with others. You and your friends can vote every day until November 7th
From Carmelita:
Friends and family …. For the next 10 days, I need your help and the help of everyone you know. Please read this message, act, and pass it on. I appreciate all the support you can provide my school and students. By helping us, you will also help classrooms in your neighborhood get funding. - Carmelita Reyes, principal
How to vote and contest details:
The final round of the contest begins October 29 and ends November 7. We are 1 of 5 high schools eligible to win $50,000 and 1 of 15 schools eligible to win $100,000.
To win, we need votes online! You can vote for our project every day. To vote for the OIHS project you must:
1) Create a Bing login: http://ourschoolneeds.discoverbing.com/Register.aspx
2) Vote for our project: Oakland International Crossing Boarders With Music http://ourschoolneeds.discoverbing.com/Projects/Default.aspx?prj=1259
3) You can vote every day until November 7.
In addition, every time you vote you will receive an email giving you a $3 credit on Donors Choose website. You can spend the credit to fund classrooms at Oakland International or any other school on Donors Choose. Here is how:
1) After voting, check your email for a code you can use at Donors Choose
2) Go to Donors Choose: http://www.donorschoose.org/teachers
3) Click on “Projects”
4) You can search for projects by type, school name, and city
5) Select a project and apply the money to a needy classroom
About OIHS: Oakland International High School serves a unique population of students, newly arrived immigrants, and focuses instruction on English language acquisition. At OIHS we serve students from 31 countries who speak 29 different languages. All of our students are recently arrived immigrants and refugees who have come to the United States within the last four years. 94% of our students qualify for a free or reduced price lunch. A third of our students are refugees. Approximately a quarter of our students have had significant interruptions in their formal education.
About our project: Last year, we began transforming our school into a multimedia academy with the goal of providing our students with the academic and technological skills they need to succeed in college and the workplace. We have teachers and community supporters who are eager to teach graphic design, computer programming, and audio production classes, but we lack the equipment to make these classes a reality. The OSN contest would be able to build upon this foundation to fully equip our school for music, arts, and multimedia classes for years to come.
Thank you for your help!
Best,
Claire