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Students pitch in after earthquake hits home
Friday, Feb. 5, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by DARWIN WEIGEL
Mt. Harmony Elementary School fourth grader Holden Beauzile, whose parents are from Haiti, holds up the Haitian flag for a picture with fellow fourth graders to promote their Hope for Haiti fund drive. Clockwise from lower left are: Anna Whittington, Mya Mobley, Kirsten Kosa, Mandy Cole, Cassidy Cosme, Daneille Seeram, Taylor Jackson, Jack Speyer, Johnny Futrell, Thomas Bruening, Gunner Gebelein, Valentina Nazzaro, Kyle Daly, and Kaise Thomas.
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Even though he was safe at home in Dunkirk, when the 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti last month, several of 10-year-old Holden Beazile's classmates thought of him first.
"When I heard about Haiti, I was really sad because my friend Holden is from Haiti and I was hoping his relatives would be OK," said Michael Williams, 10, a fourth grader at Mt. Harmony Elementary School.
Though he has only visited once, Holden, who is also a fourth grader at Mt. Harmony Elementary in Owings, has several family members in Haiti, where both of his parents are from.
"I was supposed to go in late-March but since the earthquake, I can't go anymore," Holden said, adding that he had a mixed reaction to his trip being canceled.
He was relieved because "Haiti doesn't have my favorite channels on TV," but sad because "I really wanted to see my cousins, aunts and uncle."
These Haitian family members — who live just outside Port-au-Prince – now have even more significance to Holden, who waited about four days before making contact with them to learn they were all safe.
Holden's teacher, Noell Wilson, later said she learned from Holden's mom that his aunt left her Port-au-Prince office building mere minutes before it was destroyed.
"I was scared and worried," Holden said of his feelings while waiting to learn about his family's whereabouts.
At his school, Holden has now become a local celebrity of sorts; especially since Mt. Harmony students are now collecting money for the statewide Hope for Haiti Maryland Kids Care Campaign, a project being spearheaded by the fourth grade.
"I was surprised by the energy, the care and just the momentum it took … the whole school is extremely generous," said fourth grade teacher Kristine Kahler, who is in charge of the campaign at Mt. Harmony.
Kahler said that she thinks what has touched her students the most are the images of Haitian children and the idea that they could lose resources that many of them barely had in the first place.
"I think they're very worldly kids," Kahler said of her students, adding that in addition to the Haitian relief project, the fourth graders are also "pen pals" with 1st Lt. Timothy Miller, a Mt. Harmony alum who is stationed in Afghanistan.
"I didn't know that much [about Haiti] but when the earthquake hit, I learned a lot more because people were talking about it and it was in the news," said fourth grader Gunner Gebelein of Huntingtown.
Gunner, 10, said that what stood out to her while watching TV was that "all the houses were destroyed … most of them were, and people were trapped under them."
She was not the only student who did not know a lot about Haiti prior to the earthquake.
"I just knew a lot of myths and stuff like that," said fourth grader Alexander Griffin, 9, of Dunkirk who continued that she always believed that economically, Haiti was "in the middle … sort of like Cuba."
"When I heard that they had an earthquake, I felt sad because a lot of people died," said fourth grader Savannah Bickford, 9, of Dunkirk.
Now the fourth graders and their Mt. Harmony classmates are taking what might have been their allowance or tooth fairy money and making a difference.
"We're donating pennies but some people are dropping dollars and $5 … they do lots of different coins; anything," said fourth grader Kaitlyn Culbert, 9, of Dunkirk.
As for Holden, he contributed $10 and said he is thrilled by the support he has seen from his peers.
"People just walk by me and say, ‘I will support your country.' "
