To celebrate completing midterms and to kick off winter break there will be a three on three basketball tournament to raise money for The Dream Project. The Dream Project is an organization located in the Dominican Republic that helps provide quality education to local youth. It is a three step program consisting of early childhood education, primary education, and holistic youth development that begins at age 2 and ends at age 25. Since 1955, the organization has provided 7,000 children and young adults with a quality education. As a direct result of The Dream Project, 75% of those students received job offers or enrolled in college; in addition, 19 have earned university scholarships.

On December 15 at 4 p.m., the three on three basketball tournament will begin. The tournament is open to students, alumni, and faculty. Each of these groups will have their own bracket and the games will continue until a winner is determined in each bracket. During the tournament, both t-shirts and snacks will be sold and a percentage of proceeds will go to The Dream Project.  

Joey Mullen ’19 and Ross Clark ’19 are the coordinators of this event, saying that “It should be more of a fun charity event than a competitive basketball game. You don’t have to be good at basketball to come out and play. We don’t really have an exact number, but somewhere around the $1,000 dollar mark would be great,” commented Mullen. Clark explained that they chose The Dream Project due to “a special connection to the organization from our service trip to the Dominican Republic. We had the opportunity to really see what life is like for kids down there, and I think we all realized how lucky we are to have access to incredible facilities and academics at Friends. So, from there, the Dream Project was an easy choice due to the direct impact we knew the donations would have on helping the program and the kids.”

English teacher Jake Rashkind has also visited the Dominican Republic and said “I think it’s a really great cause and it’s a great way to bring people together. I went to the Dominican Republic over the summer of 2015 and it’s amazing how many resources they lacked in the schools like books, writing utensils, and other important materials where we were working,” reflected Rashkind. Rashkind will also be participating in the tournament and “seeks to win it all.”

Spanish teacher Helena Cochrane went on the last service trip to the Dominican Republic and said “The Dream Project has been very impactful as the Dominican Republic that has one of the worst school systems in the Western Hemisphere and even when we went just for one week it was very impactful to their school and foundation. When we went, we raised around $12,000 which is very big for students being able to go to these programs over the summer as just $90 can send one child to the Dream project’s summer program for one week. A lot of the students that went said that this trip impacted their lives as some students are still corresponding with some of the chaperones in the Dream Project. Overall, this trip was very impactful as just helping for a week helped them tremendously.”

The Dream Project has significantly impacted the school system in the Dominican Republic and some students from Wilmington Friends School as well. This tournament will be lots of fun and for a great cause.