Wilson and Osterhaus-Binkert appear on Channel 9 News in order to spread awareness for their fundraising efforts. photo by Amy Pedlar
By creating a manual for their DECA class at TJ, two students are benefiting a dog shelter by fundraising and spreading awareness.
Each academic year, students in the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) program at Thomas Jefferson High School have the opportunity to create a manual (a written entry) in which they choose to focus on one of several different things, one of them being a community giving project where students plan and carry out positive action within their community and describe it in a presentable manual. TJ juniors Sally Wilson and Olivia Osterhaus-Binkert have gone above and beyond to make their vision for their manual a reality.
With 3,956 high school chapters and 258,082 high school members, DECA is an academic pathway which allows students the opportunity to learn business and entrepreneurship concepts in preparation for college and careers. At TJ, there are four courses, each a year long, offered to students in the DECA program: Business & Marketing Essentials, Principles of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and School Based Enterprise Retail Operations. Students are able to create a manual at any stage in the DECA pathway. Wilson and Osterhaus-Binkert chose to create a manual for the first time this year and more specifically, they chose to pursue a community giving project. A DECA community giving project manual is a 20-page paper that describes the plan for a project that will benefit a specific cause or charity. The project must be carried out and the written manual is memorized and presented to a judge at the DECA State Competition in February at the Broadmoor Hotel.
Wilson and Osterhaus-Binkert are in the second class offered in the TJ DECA pathway, Principles of Marketing. Osterhaus-Binkert describes the class as, “relatable to the real world and invigorating.” Outside of their classes, they both play volleyball and are on the swim team at TJ. Osterhaus-Binkert spends her free time reading as well as with her family and friends and Wilson spends her time with her family and friends as well as working in the nursery at a local church.
For their project, Wilson and Osterhaus-Binkert have partnered with the dog rescue, Soul Dog, located in Fort Lupton, Colorado. Soul Dog is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit animal rescue that focuses on improving the treatment of animals and increasing access to free or affordable spay/neuter services, especially in tribal lands. Wilson and Osterhaus-Binkert are supporting Soul Dog by fundraising with a GoFundMe, collecting and delivering pet supply donations, and organizing adoption events. In regards to Osterhaus-Binkert’s inspiration for the project, she stated that, “growing up fostering animals with my family and knowing Soul Dog personally,” led her to deciding on this project. Similarly, Wilson relates to their chosen project after growing up with cats and recently adopting a dog which ultimately has inspired her to “believe every animal deserves a loving home.”
To promote their efforts, Wilson and Osterhaus-Binkert run the instagram account (@pawspurposeproject) where they share donation and adoption event information. The pair has also appeared on both ABC Channel 7 and KUSA Channel 9 news in order to promote their partnership with Soul Dog. Wilson and Osterhaus-Binkert shared on their social media page that their mission for the project is to “support Soul Dog in rescuing and rehoming stray and neglected animals by raising awareness and resources through community-driven events.”
Wilson and Osterhaus-Binkert are working hard and putting in many hours in order to make a real impact on the Soul Dog rescue and the animals within it. Partnering with Soul Dog has not only allowed Wilson and Osterhaus-Binkert a topic for their DECA manual, but it has provided them with a way to channel the inspirations they receive from their lives outside of school into benefiting the lives of animals without a loving home.
