Seventh-grade students at Wantagh Middle School went a step beyond the typical classroom experience. While preparing to read their assigned novel, A Long Walk to Water, they aren’t just studying the text—they are transforming their lessons into a mission to address the global water crisis in South Sudan.

For the second year, students and faculty organized a creative fundraiser "Shadow a Teacher Day" raffle where 25 students were selected to work alongside their favorite teacher for a half day.

The initiative centered on Linda Sue Park’s powerful book, A Long Walk to Water, which highlights the real-life hardships and lack of clean water access in Northeast Africa. To ensure the students developed a deeper connection to these international issues, English teachers Anna Schiebelhuth and Christina Bewick, along with Librarian Amelie Weber, entered the seventh-grade classes into the Iron Giraffe Challenge.

The Iron Giraffe Challenge is an international fundraising initiative that supports Water for South Sudan.  Students raised $644 to help fund the drilling of clean water wells where all proceeds raised support the 7th-grade Iron Giraffe Challenge goal.