ISD Community Members,

WIth Tabaski and the start of the academic school year for local Senegalese schools around the corner, Jappale would like to support our local maintenance and cleaning staff with a “Back to School Bag” for their children.  

Each class/homeroom, K-12, is asked to create two (2) amazing “Back to School Bags” with new or gently used school supplies that will be given to our maintenance staff’s children.  Besides supplies, we would like each child to receive a “Good Luck on the First Day of School” card (in French and/or Wolof) from the class members. We hope that these bags not only show our support for their academic success, but also excite kids for the first day of school!

Each class has received a list of supplies to fill their bags, and teachers/students will decide how to assign responsiblities for each supplies.

We kindly request that all supplies are in the bags, packed and ready for distribution by Friday, September 27. 

What Is Jappale? 

Jappale itself is a Wolof term for "support" and is the name of a committee that was founded five years ago by the senior class of 2012 (along with Brad Philen's support, a former HS teacher). The central issue that warranted its founding was that the maintenance staff was often under-appreciated. Jappale works actively to build and improve the relationships of everyone within the ISD community. 

Our central goal is to build and maintain personal relationships between all members of the ISD community. We do so by organizing community-building activities, including: weekly ESL & French Literacy classes, Family Days (Field, Sports, Arts and Tech Days), as well as the annual School Supply Drive.  Last year, Jappale with the support of the PTO was able to purchase ESL texts and set up a maintenance English lending library. 

If you are interested in contributing to the Jappale movement here at ISD, have suggestions or further questions, feel free to reach out to Emily Grimes via email at: emily@isd.sn.

Thank you for doing your part to support the community here at ISD!

Jaguars who Jappale,

Emily Grimes