Whiz Kid of the Week - Travis Clauson

○      Travis Clauson, 11

○      John Swett School

○      Traveled the world with his father

○      From his fourth grade teacher, Lainey Alderman:

Last year, while in my class, Travis and his father were given the opportunity to travel the world during the school year.  What could have been a few months without Travis as an integral part of our classroom, became a learning experience for the entire school.  Each week, Travis Skyped in with our class, (often with visitors, at times district administrators), to share his experiences along the way.  He would speak of the wonderful communities he visited, of the people he met along the way, and of the wonders of the world that he got to visit.  He also completed assignments via the internet and kept a weekly blog, sharing many details and pictures about the trip.  At each stop along the way, Travis was able to bring our entire class into the richness of his experience, including completing homework on the Great Wall of China.

One of Travis’ stops was to a village in Southern Kenya.  His goal was to contribute to the village as much as he and his father could.  To help in the prevention of Malaria, Travis put together a fundraiser prior to his trip in an effort to raise awareness about Malaria, as well as, collect donations for the purchase of Malaria nets. While there Travis blogged, “Yesterday we gave out 100 of the 380 nets (Thank you again to everyone that donated!) and at each village it was obvious how much they appreciated it because of their joyful singing.  It was a lot more exhausting than I had imagined but definitely worth it!!”