Chantilly, VA
Digital Lab Ambassador
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
About Me
I am Bereket Tewolde. I attend Freedom High School in Virginia, but I spend time in both Virginia and Ethiopia, which is home to my family. I have always wanted to learn, build things, and help people who are not as fortunate as I am.
My path started when I was very sick and had to be in the hospital for months. This experience changed how I see the world. It made me want to create opportunities for other people; specifically, it made me want to create opportunities for children who feel stuck or overlooked.
Outside of school, I enjoy playing soccer, engineering projects, and working on ideas that combine technology and actual positive impact. I have coached younger players and also developed community projects. Each project I work on ties into my ultimate goal to provide an opportunity for another person.
One of the things I’m most proud of is helping the digital divide in unrepresented communities here in Virginia. This is a way to bring all three of the things I care about education, technology, and providing opportunities for young people to develop together. I want to continue doing similar types of projects on a larger scale for many more people.
My Digital Lab
School Name: Jerusalem Primary School
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Number of Students: 1,573
Devices: 5 Chromebooks + 1 EdTech device
Educational Resource: Khan Academy (offline)
Why
The reason I believe education should not be dependent upon the location of birth, the amount of money that a family has, or whether the school has internet, I believe that there are many factors which may prevent a child from being able to receive an education. The opportunity to go to school as a child living between two different countries showed me just how big of a gap there is when it comes to technology and resources available to students. There are some students who have every resource possible, while other students have all of the natural ability to succeed in academics but do not have the tools to do so.
As such, my goal was to assist in closing this gap by using offline learning devices that will allow students to take full curriculum based courses like those found on the site Khan Academy without having to have an active connection to the internet. In addition to assisting students with accessing technology in the classroom, I also wanted to provide students in Ethiopia with the opportunity to continue their studies at home by allowing them to access these courses. It is unfair for students to fall behind simply because they cannot get connected to the internet. All students deserve the same opportunities to grow and to develop into the best version of themselves that they possibly can.
In order to assist students in Ethiopia with getting the education that they deserve, I assisted with raising funding, collecting materials/equipment, and worked with individuals in Addis Ababa to establish a digital learning lab. Now that the lab has been established students attend the lab after school to catch up in both reading and math, study at their own pace, and most importantly build their self-confidence. Hearing how much assistance the lab has provided for the students continues to motivate me to assist even further.
What I am attempting to accomplish, I am accomplishing locally. As such, I remain in contact with the local coordinator, as well as the children who attend the lab. I check on how they are progressing, I listen to their concerns, and I continually look for new ways to expand the reach of the project.
Ultimately, I wish to continue to utilize what I have learned, what I have experienced, and what I am currently learning to assist others in opening up new avenues for education and personal development. I plan to achieve this one lab at a time. One student at a time. One idea at a time.
