Ensuring that students understand that they can make a positive change in the world and learn how to make that difference is an essential part of the learning experience at ISKL. With an educational philosophy that ensures students understand the importance of service, they develop the necessary skills to take action through hands-on efforts that impact the communities around us.
Despite a challenging year with most of our community based at home due to the lockdowns, our students across Elementary (ES), Middle (MS), High School (HS), faculty and staff did not hesitate in continuing to support those in need by collaborating in various initiatives.
Our community have embarked on projects such as food drives, a Ramadan food fundraiser, jazz music night fundraiser, cookies and bake sales, eco beauty fundraisers, fresh fruits donation, book/toy/clothing drive, greeting cards for senior citizens, creating cards to cheer up the elderly, feed the homeless in KL, collaborated with organizations such as the Cupid Crew, Robin Hood Army, Hunger Hurts, Chin Women’s Organization (CWO) and School to name a few.
The following are a list of events that have happened since August 2020 up until August 2021!
SEMESTER ONE
- Sweets for Charity – With CMCO restrictions in place, Grade 11 students Amelie T. Valeria F. and Gabi W. decided to turn their shared passion for making food into fundraising! The students baked cookies, using the profits to purchase necessary materials needed by the Chin Student Organization (CSO), such as a second-hand laptop, speakers, headphones, markers, a whiteboard, and an internet plan for their online classes.
- ISKL Service Giving Tree – Students Asha O., Eunji E., Rozanne, Youngkyung Y., Chelsea C., Ellie C., and Ellie T. from ISKL’s Service Council Team launched an initiative where community members purchase a virtual Christmas ornament for themselves or send it as a gift with a custom note! Each of the ornaments was designed around participating service/sustainability clubs in High School such as the Key Club, Fugee School, Kids 4 Kids, the Green Council, Rare, Science for Kids, Lumaki, Behind the Scenes, Gardening Club, Pride Club, and the Society For The Prevention of Cruelty To Animals (SPCA).
- Fresh Fruit Fridays – Every Friday, Prep Senior student Noor M. and her mom Sarah M. collect fresh fruits from their neighborhood community and distribute them to security guards, gardeners, local construction site workers, and children in need.
- The ISKL Key Club is a large group of about 30 students who work with a local refugee school called Zotung Refugee Catholic Learning Centre (ZRCLC). During the Movement Control Order (MCO), students collected masks, both store-bought and hand-made by fellow students, and hand sanitizers and delivered them to the center.
- Red Hat Free Dress Day – The Red Hats sponsored a free dress day, which helps to support local charities. Students express their individual style on free dress days with a suggested charitable contribution/donation of RM 5 each!
- Habitat For Humanity (HFH) Cards – ISKL’s HFH members created handmade greeting cards for the official Habitat for Humanity organization to be handed out to senior citizens and people with mobility issues who have their homes sanitized in a ‘deep cleaning’ program during the lockdown.
- Science for Kids – This new community partnership is associated with a refugee learning center called ‘Save School for Refugees.’ Members created videos of simple science experiments that students can try at home and participated in various explanatory Zoom sessions.
- Kids 4 Kids – One of the oldest community partnership clubs at ISKL has been visiting the pediatric cancer ward at the General Hospital (GH) Kuala Lumpur for the past fifteen years. Due to changes in visitor policies at GH, they began working with an orphanage and organized Halloween Candy Grams to help raise funds for the children.
- Grade 5 Red Hats led by example and organized a food drive to help the Chin Refugee School. They collected three carloads full of essential items that were distributed to the Chin Refugees.
- The Middle Eastern Refugee Club (MER-C) has been using technology and art to continue its outreach work online by organizing online Zoom hangouts with Malaysian Social Research Institute (MSRI) members.MER-C works in association with the Sahabat School in Ampang that supports kids and teenagers that have left various Middle Eastern countries to seek refuge in Malaysia. Before the MCO, kids and teenagers from numerous backgrounds interact and spend time with ISKL students every Thursday through multiple activities such as cooking, playing sports, or team building activities. This opportunity means that members meet people they usually would never get a chance to interact with and simultaneously learn the stories and experiences of teenagers that have drastically different backgrounds to their own. How great that our students can still carry out these connections online.
- High School club, ‘Within Malaysia,’ organized a Book and Toy Drive for Tasputra Perkim daycare center for children with various disabilities during the Christmas season.
- Green Meets Caring: An Agency Project – Daphne L. (‘27) took a course organized by faculty Celia Cookson on making Eco-Beauty products and created homemade Eco-beauty products and offered 20 minute online tutorials for the Christmas season in aid of the Society For The Prevention of Cruelty To Animals (SPCA).
- Panther Goes Pink, an initiative organized by the ISKL Staff Association, raised awareness and supported people living with Breast Cancer, the survivors, and families by sharing essential facts about the disease and spreading knowledge through trivia questions and virtual participation in Dash Pink Wednesday. All proceeds from the sale of the pink ribbon brooch were donated to the non-profit organization Majlis Kanser Nasional (MAKNA).
- Christmas Sticker Project by Smudgd – Twelve HS ISKL Art Studio members from Smudgd launched their first fundraising project, the Christmas Sticker Project, by creating unique and colorful stickers up for sale, selling over 300 stickers, and raising above RM1000! The funds allowed them to purchase extra art materials as well as channel funds to a charity.
- Chin Community Partnership E-gift cards – Students from the Chin Womens’ Organization School (CWO) have been out of school for many months. ISKL’s HS Chin Community Partnership club organized a fundraiser by creating a digital donation gift card to enable internet access and computers for refugee students’ learning.
SEMESTER TWO
- Elementary School and Middle School Girl Scout troops joined volunteers from the Cupid Crew and Robin Hood Army Malaysia in creating 75 colorful and cheerful cards to bring joy to the residents and staff of a local elderly home in Cheras!
- Grade 5 Red Hats changemaker organized a charity drive to collect donations for the CWO and School! The students gathered most of the items that the CWO had asked for, including an iron, three cash donations, school supplies, and an overwhelming amount of food items!
- Students from Grades 1, 2, 3, and 6, together with their parents, set up a physically-distanced bake sale in front of their homes! The students raised funds to feed the homeless people in Kuala Lumpur by selling lemonades, smoothies, and baked cookies!
- Grade 7 student Raj R. organized a book and toy drive for around 60 children in the Chin Refugees school. What started as a home project quickly turned into a full-fledged initiative at Middle School collaborating with High School students!
- Grade 11 students Yan Qing, Joy, Nurin, and Abi, carried out a ‘Threads of Love’ Clothing Drive to reduce clothing waste, where they asked the ISKL community to drop off second-hand clothing! The clothes were distributed to various orphanages and homes across Kuala Lumpur, with any extras received sent for recycling.
- Club executives from the Chin Community Partnership, a HS service club, sorted and packed donations from a recent book and supply drive. The service club connects with Chin refugee students from the Chin Women’s Organization (CWO) School in Cheras to share culture and promote learning.
- HS student Asha O. (’21), with the help of her dad as ‘delivery driver,’ completed another food drive in generating donations for the Chin community by raising over RM 20,000! Asha also had help from her dad as a ‘delivery driver’ and with support from the supermarket chain, Village Grocer, who packaged and loaded the food items for them.
- HS student Caitlin B. from Grade 11 completed a CAS project to raise money with the help of the ISKL community to purchase food vouchers in collaboration with the Greater Action charity organization for Ramadan! She shared that RM 250 can feed a local Afghan refugee family of four to five persons through the organization for a month.
- Students, parents, faculty, and staff participated in the inaugural Annual Panther Prowlathon where they walked, jogged, cycled, scootered, or roller-skated to complete kilometers to raise money that will go back to ISKL and the community. RM 7850 was raised, and 50% of the donations went to organizations that our ES, MS, HS Students Clubs support.
- ISKL’s Greater Action team members, HS students Yan Qing L. (’22) and Nurin A.(’22), are organizing a denim drive to make sure old denim items are put into good use. Each article of clothing collected will be directly recycled and turned into new things such as computer bags, handy pouches by Afghan refugees with tailoring skills. The sale of items will support the livelihood of these refugees and provide the refugees with an opportunity to financially support themselves for necessities such as rent, food, and children’s education. This project collaborates with Greater Action, a non-profit organization that aims to support the livelihood of Afghan refugees.
- The HS Jazz Night raised RM5150 for The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC) which has been hard hit by the pandemic. The night featured performances by the ISKL Singers, ISKL Jazz Combo, individual and small groups and showcased the fantastic abilities of our students.
ISKL Panthers always lend a helping paw, even during a pandemic. Kudos to all our students, faculty, staff, and parents for collaborating and making positive change through hands-on efforts to make a difference to the communities and beyond — it will surely go a long way!
