Often times, when students want to get involved in their community and fight for a particular cause, they join a school club or organization, or find ways to earn more Student Service Learning (SSL) hours. Instead of joining a pre-existing club, junior Leo Blumberg-Woll chose to start his own, Advantage Ethiopia: Kids Tennis and Education Initiative, in the middle of the 2013-2014 school year. Blumberg-Woll and his mother also founded the organization Advantage Ethiopia outside of school.

“I started the organization and club to give back to the community in Ethiopia because I adopted my brother from there in 2010 and I saw how bad the conditions were there,” said Blumberg-Woll.

According to Blumberg-Woll, the club is linked to the organization that he founded with his mother a year and a half ago. They have partnered with the Tariku and Desta Kids Education and Tennis Program (TDKET), which helps kids who are living in the worst possible conditions in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, and takes them to TDKET in Addis Ababa to  help them gain a better education, while promoting and helping them with competitive tennis. Some of the kids have even been accepted into and given full rides to colleges and universities in the U.S. The organization is meant to help raise money for TDKET in Ethiopia and provide them with resources for tutoring the kids, equipment for tennis, and most importantly, money for expanding the program’s tennis courts.

“[Advantage Ethiopia partners] with [a] tennis program in Ethiopia that is headed by two men who just take what they need to survive from the money they get, and use the rest for the program,” said junior and club vice president Clara Moreno-Sanchez.

Moreno-Sanchez said the club is unique in that it is directly connected to something bigger, such as the organization. Since Blumberg-Woll helped to found the organization, and is in charge of the club, its members can look at the bigger picture. While the club is designed to be in school only, the organization is more outside of school.

“[We help out with tennis specifically] because our partner organization is a tennis and education program. When [Blumberg-Woll]…went to Ethiopia, that was the most attractive [organization] he wanted to help,” said Moreno-Sanchez.

The club is sponsored by AP Psychology teacher Geraldine Acquard and meets in room 115 weekly on Fridays during lunch.