DOLLARS FOR DARFUR
Garden School senior organizes fundraisers

David Wexler, a senior at Garden School in Jackson Heights, has discovered the importance of helping members of his own community, as well as other countries such as Africa, and specifically Darfur.
While attending his cousin’s graduation from the University of Pennsylvania several years ago, Wexler became inspired after hearing a keynote address given by U2 singer Bono. One part of the speech that particularly struck Wexler was when Bono said that if the United States donated one percent of its total budget to Africa, poverty could be ended in the country within about 20 years.
“I just thought poverty, particularly in Africa, was impossible to solve,” said Wexler, who lives in Maspeth. “His speech really showed me it is something we can end.”
Following the speech, Wexler began doing his own research about the issue and soon came across a lot of information on the problems in Darfur. Deciding it needed the most attention, Wexler brought the issue to his school about three years ago.
Along with having fundraisers such as bake sales, Garden School recently held a colloquium on Darfur, where former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger spoke about her experiences with aiding Darfur. As president of Garden School’s student council, Wexler was a main organizer of the event.
“When I became president, I wanted to do this thing because people really didn’t know what was doing on,” Wexler said, adding the colloquium has been his proudest accomplishment. “It was a really big success. Everybody was behind it.”
Wexler estimates that, over the course of the last three years, the school has raised between $4,500 and $5,000 to benefit the people of Darfur.
“The people in Darfur really needed help and school is a great place to raise money because the kids can really get behind it, they really get passionate about it,” Wexler said. He added, “Of course, financially what the students did is amazing.”
Wexler has been a member of the student council since eighth grade. As president, his duties include work involving extra curricular activities. He also mediates between different clubs and between the students and administration.
Also, Wexler is a member of the Key Club and a student representative of Middle States, which is an organization that credits the school. In the past, he served as the president of the Foreign Language Club and the secretary of the Honors Society.
Besides his school activities, Wexler also volunteers in the community. Every Saturday morning he volunteers at Rego Park Healthcare in their activities department, spending time with those in the nursing home. Among the things he does with them are playing Scrabble, having conversations, helping them with arts and crafts and reading them the newspaper.
For one or two weeks in the summer and a weekend in the spring, Wexler volunteers at a camp for the specially-abled in Warwick, New York. He also helps at a camp Garden School has for five-year-olds.
Although Wexler said that he has not fully decided what to study at college, he said he is thinking about going into teaching. If he does, he said he would probably teach high school English or history.
“It seems like there’s a really good chance I’ll be a teacher at this point,” Wexler said. “I’ve always liked teaching.”