Denver Public Schools students have made about 300 origami cranes in the past two days to send to Japanese children as a sign of hope and luck in the wake of the nation’s disaster.
“What kids have done is completely take it to heart,” said Matthew Cirbo, a teacher at Rachel B. Noel Middle School.
Social-studies classes at Noel are studying Japan. And Cirbo had taught a lesson on the background of the crane one day before the earthquake and tsunami hit the island nation last Friday.
“They went home that night folding these cranes and had that connection as they saw the news,” Cirbo said.
The next day, the classes decided to gather the cranes to send to Japanese children.
At the Denver Center for International Studies, it was the students in the Japanese anime club and the UNICEF club who had the idea to take up the cause.
The students started by taking donations for UNICEF at DPS’s Travel and Study Abroad Fair on Wednesday night, where they raised more than $150. Students will continue to take donations until April 6.
The origami cranes made at the international-studies center are personalized with inspirational messages written in Japanese.
Donors who were at the event Wednesday helped make the cranes.
Photo gallery.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372 or yrobles@denverpost.com
School, clubs still want help
The Japanese anime club and the UNICEF club at DPS’s Denver Center for International Studies and seventh-graders at Rachel B. Noel Middle School are making origami cranes to send to children in Japan. Contact the center if you wish to make a monetary donation or Noel if you want to help make more cranes.
