Press

KOAA 5: Students at Horizon Middle School are using their STEAM skills to make a global impact. This report details how their "Kenya Read Project" uses 3D-printed ornaments and other creative products to raise funds for a new library in Eldoret, Kenya.

As the fall semester was winding down and the Horizon Middle School gymnasium was blasting tunes for a school dance, a small group of students was still hard at work in Benjamin Honeycutt’s classroom after school on Dec. 12.

Members of the club, the Kenya Read Project, were brainstorming different products to create with their 3-D printer, sell throughout the school and their community and different marketing strategies for their mission.

In Dr. Kristin Mattson's second edition of “Digital Citizenship in Action, Second Edition: Empowering Students to Engage in Online Communities,” she publishes a spotlight story that focuses on Open World Cause’s evolution from a high school project to a professional non-profit.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelby Miller.

Hi Shelby, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
It’s been a wild ride, haha. I went to school at KU to study graphic design and started doing freelance design as a student. That was about 10 years ago! Graphic design led me to a non-profit organization called Open World Cause, where I worked on their design needs for flyers and social media. It’s an organization that works with schools worldwide, so this led me to travel with them to Nepal a couple of times to visit a school there

Erika Taylor, one of the co-founders of Crossing World Barriers, a student-led project overseen by Open World Cause, worked from 2018-2019 on creating videos to help English Language Learning for students at the Tri Ka school in Nepal. Erika was the 2023 winner of the prestigious Wagon Boss scholarship in part from her work with Crossing World Barriers, and plans to travel to Ireland for her senior year of high school.

I, [Ben Honeycutt] was inspired by a teacher to start something called the legacy project that was required in order to graduate. I ended up getting connected with a principal in Nepal who wanted to bring a library to his school. So, we started a fundraiser and we were able to bring two laptops, internet access and furnish a library. When I got to college, I expanded that into a nonprofit and we have helped fund the construction of classrooms for two schools one in Nepal and one in Kenya. And we were able to supply clean water filters for those communities.”

Pre-Trip Planning
In 2017, Executive Director Ben Honeycutt spoke with Govinda Panthy about the potential of OWC traveling to Tri Ka in 2019 to establish long term curriculum and professional development programs to serve the students and teachers of the Tri Ka school. Govinda said structural barriers at Tri Ka made teaching English an incredible challenge and requested that OWC help provide solutions to these structural barriers. Ben reached out to Professor Collum and Chief of Operations Connor Janzen who approved of a planned trip to Nepal in 2019.

We are so proud to introduce Open World Cause’s Consultant for Women’s Health & Educational Initiatives, Sarita Timalsina. In September 2019, Sarita attended the International Youth Day 2019: Engaging Youth to Advance Sustainable Cities and Communities at the United Nations headquarters in New York City!

Natalie Chabot, Open World Cause’s Director of Foreign Language Acquisition, served as a translator for French Speaking Delegates of West African Countries who were during a tour of the United States during the midterm elections

Today is a big day. As many of you know, our organization survives purely on the goodwill and volunteer hours of our members, consultants, and global network of activists. For much of this year, we were considering new funding outreach and how to engage with our community in new ways.

We are beyond thrilled to announce that through the hard work and selection process of the Elevate Committee at RS&H, and on behalf of our board Chair, Connor Janzen, that the Open World Cause was granted $5,000 to support end-of-year goals for 2019 and our ability develop other exciting programs within our organization.

In June of 2015, we had a Skype call with Livingstone Kegode, the director of HIPAfrica, and were so impressed with his work that we were committed…

There are so many great organizations out there making a real impact on our world, and many generous people wanting to give back. I think part of the struggle is narrowing down where to donate our resources…

In June of 2015, we had a Skype call with Livingstone Kegode, the director of HIPAfrica, and were so impressed with his work that we were committed from the moment the call was over. A little over a year later, Livingstone informed us that the country of Kenya had changed its zoning standards for schools, and unless HIPAfrica could raise over $14,000 for three new classrooms, a new washroom, and new fencing, HIP would have to close its doors to the 59 children who attended its school.

We traveled out to Kimilili to survey HIP and the surrounding community in May of 2017.

It started simply as a Skype session to bridge the 7,800 miles between them, to learn from each other and to share videos. But then these Columbus fifth-graders heard their counterparts in Africa explain a dire situation…

On Monday, Hutchinson's Garrett Wilkinson won the coveted Marshall Scholarship for post-college study. On Tuesday, the 22-year-old may get arrested in Washington, D.C. At least, that's what he calculated, based on Monday's arrests of tax-cut legislation opponents on Capitol Hill.

At K-State, Wilkinson is director of special projects for Open World Cause, supporting educators in Nepal and Kenya, providing community school nutrition programs and purified water.

Dr. Kristin Mattson published a spotlight story about the Open World Cause in her 2017 book “Digital Citizenship in Action. Read the spotlight on Page 99 here:

By the National Council for the Social Studies: In early June, we received some intriguing snapshots from NCSS member Melissa Collum, so we interviewed her about her community service work in Kenya.

This Skype collaboration project will give your students the opportunity to learn about the work of the Open World Cause and the educational access issues it addresses through domestic and international partnerships…

Ben Honeycutt and Connor Janzen are on a mission. Lifelong friends, these two took a class project and grew it. The guys reflect on their highs and lows, along with the power of mentorship for Open World Cause.

Tahatai Coast Primary School children are learning real-life skills like compassion and empathy in their latest hands on project where every drop counts.

The work of Open World Cause was published in Jennifer Casa-Todd’s Book, “Social Leadia: Moving Students from Digital Citizenship to Digital Leadership” Learn more about the book here:

MONUMENT, Colo. - Students at Monument Academy are thinking outside the box, using their iPads to make a difference as part of a digital legacy project inspired by a teacher at the school…

Two students used their iPads to start a fundraiser for Kenya.

“We’re collecting shoes to help save a school in Kenya. Once all the shoes are collected, they’ll be donated to a fundraising organization who pays us 40 cents per pound of shoes,” said sixth-grader Christina Strahan.

In just two weeks, Christiana and her classmate, Amelia Kulich, collected more than 500 pairs of shoes.

Open World’s first trip was in June 2015. We went to meet Govinda (director of the school) and see Tripur Kinder Academy first hand. After years of supporting the school, the team, donors, and the staff of Tri KA all looked forward to this trip and legitimizing our partnership and forming deeper connections.

The trip almost didn’t happen. Weeks before our trip, an earthquake hit Nepal that devastated the country. Though at first we weren’t sure if we should still travel, we found that the area of Narayanpur, where Tri KA was located, was mostly unaffected and we were able to continue as planned.

Abigail Schletzbaum of Lawrence graduated from Free State High School. She is the daughter of Paul and Stacy Schletzbaum of Lawrence. Schletzbaum’s involvement at KU includes Open World Cause and the Center for Community Outreach.

Hutchinson News: By Kathy Todd

There were about three hours of panic for a couple of Kansas college students Saturday morning as they anxiously awaited news from a friend in Nepal.

Fortunately for them, the power of the Internet came through.

On 10/31/13, Jane Waters, Co-Founder of the Open World Cause's high school initiative, sat down with Open World directors Ben Honeycutt and Connor Janzen on KJHK 90.7 FM to discuss the Open World Cause's current mission.

Bishop Elementary students have learned how fortunate they are to have a nice school library filled with hundreds of books. A one room school in rural Nepal has no library, no electricity and students only have rough, wooden desks. Seniors in Buhler High School near Hutchinson decided as a class project to raise money to build a library and stock it with books.

Buhler High School seniors have been raising money to help students at a school in Nepal that has no electricity and where paper is in such short supply that the teacher washes and dries it for students to reuse…

Buhler High School students are hoping their senior class Legacy Project can help build a new library and provide internet access to a school in Nepal.