People talked and champagne flowed last Saturday night at the Wilson chapel, where the Jennifer Price Global Education Leadership Fund (GELF) held its annual fundraising dinner.
This was the first GELF dinner since 2019, and excited parents, teachers, and council-members could all be seen gathered in the big main hall of the building, mixing, mingling, and generally enjoying the night.
The tone was excited and celebratory: By 7PM, $10,000 in $150 tickets had already been raised for the cause, and more importantly, the opportunity to bring together people from all backgrounds in Newton was rightly fulfilled.
All of the festivities were dedicated to one particular group of people: students. GELF’s mission, since 2008, has been to provide affordability for school trips and student exchanges around the world for people who could not otherwise afford them.
So, said GELF board member Dae Hong, GELF has stepped in to pay the bills, ”in some cases subsidizing 80% or sometimes even 100% of the funds needed to go on any given trip.” To illustrate, of the $4,000 needed for a student to go to Prague this year, GELF might pay $3,999, if necessary. According to Hong, the nonprofit looks far and wide for sources of cash.
“We raise funds through individual donors, both parents as well as folks from the community who are supporters of GELF, and businesses; we had a lot of food tonight donated by local Newton businesses. In the past, Village Bank and other corporate sponsors have provided funds.”
Comella’s, Tortissima, Da Laposta, and Sweet Tomatoes all contributed deliciously. As a result, said School Committee member Anping Shen, many more high schoolers would have access to a terrific program.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to spread the word about GELF. Even though most people understand the program, to some people, this is something new. We’d like to have them engaged in this program to give all kinds of support – financial support, number one, but also other kinds of support.”
As the world becomes more and more interconnected, a decent understanding of our geographic neighbors is needed – for everyone’s benefit.
Newton North High School’s world language head, Christopher Wood, said that when they travel, “students save the language. Then, they can actualize their use of the language from within the family life and cultural life of the country where the language is spoken.”
Said Anping Shen, “I came from China. It’s easy for me to appreciate this global outlook.”
“But it is much harder for people who have never had a chance to travel.”
Lucy Aiken, NNHS class of 2014, was almost just such a person without a chance to travel, but GELF changed everything. “When I was 17, being raised by a single mother, I didn’t have any way to afford travel. I had no way of affording the costs of going somewhere across the world. GELF fixed that. It expanded my sense of what was possible in the world. I met so many amazing people on this trip, and it set off a chain of events that’s made me a world traveler across five continents.”
It really is something out of a fairy tale: A student in terrible straits suddenly rescued by a magical GELF. But unlike Cinderella or Snow White, all of this is very real– and it started in 2008 with two students just like Lucy.
The hero of the story is Jennifer Price, former NNHS principal. As she recalled, “many years ago, we were attending an NPS dinner in Waban, when someone asked what some challenges facing global travel were.”
The answer: Not everybody could go.
“Two girls wanted to go to Prague, but just couldn’t pay the check. So, we decided to create GELF. It started out in someone’s house, giving money that we didn’t have. To provide for food, I asked my wife if she could cook. She said yes, and from then until now, we’ve made sure 450 students have been able to travel.”
Henry Turner, the current principal of NNHS, said that thanks to people like Price, GELF “has become instrumental to helping students, and recently reached 501(c)(3) status,” so it can now accept tax-deductible donations.
To be clear, that’s a major achievement. And before the night was over, GELF would receive a $100,000 donation from Ms. Price herself.
But GELF is hardly a one-woman army. None of Saturday night’s celebrations would have been possible without the entire education community in Newton.
Said GELF president Helena Han, “It is through your support that we are able to provide our students with tangible global education opportunities, student by student, and trip by trip.”
Thanks to GELF and the massive local effort behind it, real-life dreams can come true – and that’s just a line to clink your glass to. Though by 8:30, there was plenty of that happening. Folks were welcomed to make merry and enjoy themselves by the sweet sound of Dan Gable and his Abletones, playing all sorts of vintage tunes like “Ain’t Misbehavin’” by Fats Waller.
As someone there remarked, it really didn’t take many decorations to make such a beautiful atmosphere.
Even the impromptu auction went well, with at least $600 raised in different event tickets and bric-a-brac. At one point, an evening of paella-making was earned by a very lucky soul.
And somewhere in the hills of Spain, a Newton student may just have celebrated along with them.
If you missed the event and would like to support GELF, you may donate here.
Andrey Sankanich is a sophomore at Newton North High School.
