West Point Positive Psychology Project (Detroit Schools Book Donation)- Austin Welch

Friends and Family,

I want to take this opportunity to tell you about a unique project I am working on at West Point in collaboration with several other cadets. As some of you may know, I was selected to be a part of the Positive Psychology Project (3P). It is an elite group of sophomores at West Point designed to facilitate growth in the areas of understanding the psychology of life in order to enhance our abilities to be effective leaders. Right now, the 3P is working on a really cool service project that I’d like to share with you. This is my page for the project.

A former Marine and current 9th grade English teacher in inner city Detroit named Ryan Pavel sent out an email to one of the instructors in charge of 3P a few months ago. Ryan teaches in a city and a school with an exceptionally low literacy rate which has caused significant problems for students that are products of Detroit Schools. He talked about his school’s need for basic books. His aim is to raise the reading levels of his students and get them excited about literature and reading. West Point 3P cadets have formed teams and are working on acquiring several specific books (listed below). My ask of you is this…please let me know if you:

--want to donate to our project (see the Paypal donation button to the right, you can donate with a credit card) Note that we will purchase copies of these books with all money received.

--have copies of any of these books and want to donate them (see the contact information for instructions on how to send books)

The books:
-Night - Wiesel
-Persepolis –Satrapi
-A Brave New World – Huxley
-The House on Mango Street – Cisneros
-Dante’s Inferno -Dante
-The Bluest Eye - Morrison
-1984 – Orwell
-Of Mice and Men – Steinbeck
-The Great Gatsby – Fitzgerald
-To Kill a Mockingbird - Lee
-Slaughterhouse 5 – Vonnegut
-Princeton Review ACT Workbooks, Cracking the ACT 2012
-Their Eyes Were Watching God – Hurston
-That was Then, This is Now - Hinton
-The Scarlet Letter – Hawthorne

Thank you for considering this awesome project. Other people matter, here is a great way to show it, especially during this time of year. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me. I really appreciate your support and I can’t wait to help send these books off to some more than deserving and totally grateful kids.

Austin.

United States Military Academy 745 Brewerton Rd, #4352, West Point, NY | 847.436.0924