Students at Cascadia College Collecting Books for Ethiopian Students

Editor's Note: Rachel Broenkow is a Running Start student at Cascadia College. She is currently a junior at Juanita High School. This is her first news article.

By Rachel Broenkow

Think of your school experience. Would it have been the same without books?

For students in Ethiopia, learning without books is a reality because neither schools nor students can afford to buy these essential learning tools. Students and faculty at Cascadia Community College are attempting to help solve this problem with a book drive called Shelf-to-Shelf.

Because of the success and outpouring of support from local communities, students, and faculty, the original deadline of March 4 is extended to March 18.

It all started last year when Panos Hatziandreas, a Cascadia faculty member, first got the idea to collect books for students in his native country of Ethiopia. When Boeing offered to transport the books, Hatziandreas approached Cascadia Student Government President, Kevin King, about getting students involved.

King was enthusiastic about the cause and ran with the idea. Before long, he recruited students at Lake Washington Technical College and Bellevue College to join the effort. The books collected will benefit students at the International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia, among other Ethiopian schools. Ethiopia has a literacy rate of about 42%, and there are hardly any schools in remote areas, according to UNICEF

 “We should be proud of this accomplishment and know we are making a difference outside of the walls of our college,” King said.

The students collected 1,937 by March 4.

To donate any new or used books to Shelf-to-Shelf, you can drop them off at the Kodiak Corner (located in the second floor or CC2) of the Cascadia Student Government Office in the Library Annex. The exact shipment date hasn’t been set as of yet. For more information contact: Kevin King at kking@cascadia.edu, or Panos Hatziandreas at phatziandreas@cascadia.edu.