Clinton students seek water for all

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When Tiffany Marshall, 15, and Brianna Peterkin, 16, saw an unfamiliar class called Computer Research on their schedules at the beginning of the year at DeWitt Clinton High School, they had no idea what to expect.

It turned out that students in the course gain computer research skills by choosing a real-world issue, learning everything they can about it and then proposing a solution. The class is part of a statewide program and competition called Quality of Life Innovations. At the end of the year, students from throughout New York present their research and findings to a panel of judges, with scholarships going to three groups of winning students.

Tiffany and Brianna, both sophomores, chose to focus on water scarcity. Briana recounted a story from a fellow DeWitt Clinton student that made the issue hit home.

“One of our friends was describing about how one morning, she turned on the water faucet and absolutely no water came out,” she said. “She told me how it affected her. She couldn’t go to school, she couldn’t cook, she couldn’t clean, she couldn’t do nothing, so when you really think about it, what is life without water?”

As Tiffany and Brianna got to the end of the research portion of their class in December, they realized they did not just want to report on a solution; they wanted to be part of the solution. So they started Let it Flow!, with the initial goal of a one-time fundraiser that could send money to help fund water projects in places of need, like clean wells in South Africa and India.

“Then after the whole winter break, it kind of hit us that we want to do more than a fundraiser, so we decided to start a water campaign within Clinton,” Tiffany said.

The students partnered up with Charity: Water, which provides groups with their own webpages for fundraising. That allowed them to expand the focus of their fundraising outside the walls of their school at 100 W. Mosholu Parkway South.

“We actually did a lot of research on their organization, and 100 percent of the contributions go toward water projects,” Tiffany said.

DeWitt Clinton High School, Let it Flow, Charity: Water, Quality of Life Innovations
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