Ongoing Jamaica Week combines food, movies, and music to raise money for trip in August

As students head into the second week of classes for the spring semester, members of Ripon's Blue Mountain Project are putting on a series of activities for the week of Jan. 23-30. The week is known as Jamaica Week and assists in educating students on what the Blue Mountain Project (BMP) does, provides entertainment, and raises money for the group's involvement with helping students in Jamaica. This year's Jamaica Week will raise money and raise awareness about Blue Mountain Project for the group's trip in August.

"For the August trip, we got a one-fund," says senior Jake Jochem. "It's for a camp called Fun Camp. It's a two week camp. We spend one week in Penlyne Castle, which is a community in St. Thomas, Jamaica. Then we move from Penlyne to Hagley Gap and work with the students and use the same curriculum."

The group cooperates with the Blue Mountain Project to set up a curriculum as well as assists with a women's group, which acts as a SIFE project. This project was last year when the group was selling quality bags made from recycled plastic bags.

The group attending and volunteering for this year's camp has many events planned for the duration of the week. Monday was a letter writing campaign.

"[The campaign] was brought up when I went on the trip in August," says Jochem. "The fifth grade teacher there wanted to choose something with letters, because there are not many opportunities for students to actually work on their writing skills and this is a great opportunity for college students to write a letter to a student and they write back. This provides an experience and a partnership."

Last night, Blue Mountain Project Executive Director Cathy Skoula spoke in Great Hall, sharing details about the project and its objective.

Other events for the week include: a Culver's food night, tonight from 5-8 p.m., a Jamaican Food Night on Thursday, Jan. 28 in Pickard Commons from 5-7 p.m., the movie Cool Runnings being shown in Bear Auditorium Friday, Jan. 28 at 8 p.m., a Jamaican Union Party hosted by Theta Chi on Friday in the Pub at 10 p.m. and two Reggae bands on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. in Great Hall.

From 5-8 p.m. tonight, student volunteers of the Blue Mountain Project will be bringing food to the tables, while collecting a percentage of the money that Culver's makes during the night.

Group members are excited for the upcoming events. Vice President of the group junior Cori Schimler, like Jochem was mostly looking forward to the letter writing campaign, but also the Reggae bands, which will have at the door donation to raise money for the people of Haiti.

"I'm looking forward to the Reggae concert," says Schimler. "It should be a great night for all students and a great way to raise money for the BMP and for those suffering in Haiti."

The Reggae bands will be featuring The Root Rockers & New Found Flavor. Members of New Found Flavor are Trackmaster T, Latrick Whiters, Tracy Hart, Randy Siscoe, Diamond, and Reggae dancer Stronje'.

In the preparation of the events, the group has seen very few challenges.

"The Ripon College community has been amazing to us," says Schimler. "This is a great cause and everyone knows it. We have gotten so many donations from groups on campus as well as many personal donations. We could not have done any of these activities without them. Because of all the help we are receiving, things just seem to fall into place."

One of the major reasons for the close bond between Ripon College and the Blue Mountain Project is 2009 graduate Haley Madson. Madson currently serves as the service learning program coordinater for the Blue Mountain Project and has been actively involved over the past few years.

With Ripon's involvement still in its beginning stages, Jamaica week shows their dedication to improving the lives of others, while having a good time doing it with music, food, and a movie.