A group of 8th grade students at Lohia's Little Angels High School in Hyderabad, India wanted to help children in their community who are sick and in the hospital. They visited the local Hope Children's Hospital and spent time with two patients, sharing stories, jokes, songs, and art to bring them joy. The students felt positively impacted by being able to help others in this way. They have since shared their experience with their classmates to indirectly impact more students.

1. Spreading Joy for Design for Change Lohia’s Little Angels High School Agapura, Hyderabad

2. Design for Change Team Mentor: Allison Gross Student Leaders from 8 th Grade Team: Pravalika Goud Safia Yamini Saipriya Sara Begum Samreen Fatima Correspondent: Reshma Lohia +91 970 133 8631 [email_address]

3. “ FEEL” First, the eight grade students were asked to talk about their homes, school, neighborhoods, community of Agapura, and India. They described both the positives and negatives of each of these and were asked to discuss issues within each of these environments that they think could be better Next the class split into smaller groups and were told to make lists of issues they wanted to address within the scope of the Design for Change competition Groups came up with a range of ideas to address, including: feeding the hungry, employment for beggars, addressing illiteracy and school dropout, and dangerous driving conditions Ultimately, the students felt great empathy for children like them that have had their normal, daily lives uprooted because of illness. They’ve seen this happen to children in their families and communities and wanted to determine a way that they could help make a positive impact on these lives.

4. IMAGINE a solution and plan it The students considered what it would be like to be sick and in the hospital for an extended period of time, and thought about what they would want a group of kids to come and do They realized that the best way they could give back to others was through sharing their time through reading, telling stories and jokes, singing, and dancing, and decided they wanted to visit their local children’s hospital and spend time doing these things to bring joy to the sick children that have been away from their friends and feeling sad or lonely They were granted permission to come in a group of 10 to the Hope Children’s Hospital, and planned their visit by practicing their jokes and stories, picking out books from the school collection they wanted to share, and coloring pictures to give the children as gifts. They soon realized that some of their plans like dancing or giving chocolates wouldn’t work logistically due to space, noise, and dietary constraints

5. “ DO” On the morning that we went into the hospital, there were two patients that could have visitors. The 10 students spent about 30 minutes with each of them, taking turns getting to know them through conversation, and sharing the pictures, jokes, stories, and songs they prepared. The patients were very happy to have a joyful group of visitors and the parents too were very appreciative of the company for their children. The pictures and stories were very appreciated, and the jokes and conversation stirred up a lot of smiles and laughter

6. Pictures from Hospital Visit

7. Pictures Cont.

8. SHARE The students have shared their experience with the rest of our class and the whole school. They had such positive experience from giving back to those just like them that have had to deal with being unwell and away from school and friends. They could feel their impact and felt very connected to those that they helped. They were very happy to have this experience and hope to return to the hospital again

9. IMPACT Number of students directly impacted: 10 Number of students indirectly impacted: 60 Number of people directly impacted: 2 patients Number of people indirectly impacted: 5