BIZAA club makes comeback
In Spanish teacher Kirsten Carter’s classroom, is a wall with all five kids that BIZAA club sponsors. This wall shows students who BIZAA helps.
November 26, 2021
The BIZAA club is a school organization that helps fund kids’ education to end child labor and human trafficking. The club has made a comeback this year after losing most of its members. With four new co-presidents comes new motives and perspectives for the upcoming year.
Spanish teacher Kirsten Carter along with four new co-presidents, will be leading the club this school year. The co-presidents are juniors Gabby Knowlan, Illiana Balok, Ellie Fisher, and senior Ariam Mussiel. They are excited to make a difference in the world through the club. Being able to be co-president with hard-working peers allows for an impactful year ahead.
Fisher was excited to become co-president with her friends. She knew she would be working with good partners. “I get to make a difference with something that I really believe in,” she said.
The school club became when Okay Anyanwu, the president and founder of the big BIZAA, came in for the Amnesty International club in 2018. He told Carter that he wanted to start a BIZAA club at the high school. He needed someone to help him start the club and asked Carter if she would take on the role. She said yes and has been running the club ever since.
“He is so inspiring and magical with his way of encouraging people to step up that, of course, I had to say yes,” Carter said.
I feel a huge sense of community and I feel like we’re doing so much so far… I can definitely see us making a difference and being a productive club.
— Ingrid Newquist
In the BIZAA club, they are helping kids in Nigeria. There is a small village with five kids that they support with fundraisers. The money from fundraisers ends child labor and human trafficking by providing the kids with an education for a better future. With that, BIZAA is also able to build relationships with the kids that they are helping. The club can do that by writing letters back and forth with the kids, which also helps them see the growth in their education over time.
“We get to sponsor them all the way from elementary to high school so we really just get to see what they are learning and the growth of their education… when we do get to talk to them it is really fun,” Fisher said.
BIZAA has had a big comeback this year after losing most of their members due to Covid and graduating seniors. During the 2019 to 2020, they had about 10 people who attended the meetings and actively participated in the club. After that, the co-presidents made it a priority to recruit as many people as possible. As a result, the club has approximately 100 members signed up on the remind, and 65 consistently attend meetings this year.
“We have had an outstanding rebound from our Covid year last year,” Carter said. She also said that they lost a huge number of their members “when we moved to zoom”, but now that they are back in person they are going to be okay.
The BIZAA club allows students to be actively involved in making a difference. With a great turnout in numbers this year, the club hopes to make a significant impact. They hope to help the kids’ education immensely this year.
“I feel a huge sense of community and I feel like we’re doing so much so far… I can definitely see us making a difference and being a productive club” junior Ingrid Newquist said.
