Media Advisory: Sweet Home Students Rally for UB's Tanzanian Girls School Project

Students from Sweet Home High School will welcome the Chuma Chuma African Dance Troupe at a fundraiser from 6-8 p.m. today (June 2, 2009) for a student-led campaign to raise money for a girls school in Tanzania. The Buffalo-based adult dance troupe will perform at Sweet Home High School at 1901 Sweet Home Rd., Amherst.

Organized by the high school students, the event will benefit the Buffalo-Tanzania Education Project, a community-wide drive to build a new school for Tanzanian teenagers whose education or lack of it defines the possibilities of their lives.

"The students at Sweet Home High School have taken the PreK-12 component of the Buffalo-Tanzania Education Project to the next level with their dedication, creativity and enthusiasm," says Katie Biggie, educational outreach coordinator at UB's Center for Educational Collaboration, which is spearheading the campaign to build at least two functioning classrooms in a remote section of Tanzania by the summer of 2010.

"This project has empowered them to help other students," says Biggie. "They're working to bridge the educational gap for girls in Mara, Tanzania, and helping to make boundaries and borders disappear. These students have truly learned what it means to be engaged citizens not only in their own community, but in the world."

Biggie and Mara B. Huber, special assistant to the president for educational initiatives, will speak and answer questions about the project at tonight's event. The students also will sell bracelets to raise money for the school and boost awareness about the initiative. Tickets to the evening are $5 and available at the door.

Press arrangements: Charles Anzalone in the UB Office of University Communications at 645-5000, ext. 1412, or Katie Biggie, onsite, at 866-7371.