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TEAM Englewood Community Academy Sending 3 Students Abroad to Help Others

 Jabarri Davis, 16, is a student at Team Englewood Community Academy and apart of the Build On program. He is hoping to go to Haiti summer of 2015 to help build schools for youth.
Jabarri Davis, 16, is a student at Team Englewood Community Academy and apart of the Build On program. He is hoping to go to Haiti summer of 2015 to help build schools for youth.
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DNAinfo/Andrea V. Watson

ENGLEWOOD — Jabarri Davis is one of three students at TEAM Englewood Community Academy planning to venture overseas this year to help others.

Davis, a 16-year-old Englewood resident, has his mind set on visiting Haiti this summer to give back. His goal is to get 1,000 service hours and right now he’s at 300.

“I just love the fun of it and I’m not even doing it for the [service] hours,” he said. “I love to see other people smile like I am, especially people in need, I like to help them out,” said Davis, who recently submitted an application with national nonprofit, buildOn, to go to Haiti this summer to help build schools.

Davis is a sophomore at TEAM Englewood Community Academy, 6201 S. Stewart Ave., and participates in service learning projects with the organization. BuildOn has programs in 10 Chicago schools and, to-date, those schools' students have served 264,278 hours, according to the website.

 Kimberly Townsend, buildOn program coordinator at Team Englewood Community Academy, said that she enjoys helping the youth she works with find their strengths. They find community service projects throughout the city to do.
Kimberly Townsend, buildOn program coordinator at Team Englewood Community Academy, said that she enjoys helping the youth she works with find their strengths. They find community service projects throughout the city to do.
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DNAinfo/Andrea V. Watson

Each year buildOn selects students to go out of the country on a service project trip. In March, two from Team Englewood will go to Burkina Faso. Diamond Ruskin, a 17-year-old Englewood resident, and Shont'e Jones, 16, will build schools there.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Ruskin said.

The program coordinator, Kimberly Townsend, splits her time between the Englewood school and Richards Career Academy in Back of the Yards.

Townsend has been working with the youth for a year and said that these opportunities are great for the students and she enjoys working with them.

“They constantly surprise me,” she said. “Every service project is different, every school is different that I work with, and every student is different and so it’s amazing to see the different connections they create for themselves,” Townsend said.

“It’s just always great to see their strengths, strengths that you might not recognize when they’re sitting in the classroom,” she said.

Townsend’s students have worked with senior citizens, food pantries and the homeless, but she said that her students are always looking for volunteer opportunities and welcome suggestions.

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