Former Mercer Island School District science curriculum lead and instructor MaryMargaret Welch beams with pride when she discusses the immense impact a group of dedicated and passionate young women are making in the world.

Welch connected with four of the Women’s Empowerment through Education (WEE) members while they were students at Mercer Island High School (MIHS) and they’ve continued along their crucial path of helping promote equal access to education in the Taita-Taveta county of Kenya.

Islanders Ryan Beebe, Lucy Cleator, Quinn Casey and Izzy Roe began their journey of support, relationship-building and fundraising through their involvement with PETRI (philanthropy, education, teaching, research, involvement). Through the MIHS club members’ unwavering commitment, a host of Kenyan high school girls in need of education funding received scholarships to attend classes. Over at Vashon High School, Sienna Stomberg and some of her classmates mirrored the Islanders’ devotion to the cause through the Girls to Girls club.

Now as college students, the women — in addition to Cleator’s Santa Clara University classmate Olivia Pickoski from Dallas, Texas — have joined their sponsor Welch in continuing to assist Kenyans through WEE, which began focusing on funding scholarships for university students about two years ago.

“These young women are my inspiration in my life. I love them, I honor them and I feel really blessed in my life to be able to work with young people who really make the world a better place because they believe that it’s not just about their own power, but it’s also about empowering others,” said Welch, who is the founder and executive director of SeaVuria, a 501c3 nonprofit STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) initiative that encompasses WEE, PETRI and Girls to Girls.

PETRI and Girls to Girls have raised approximately $40,000 to send 96 girls to high school, and WEE has hauled in $2,500 that equals four college scholarships. WEE has gathered its funds through an Island summer STEM camp and a summer festival on Vashon Island, by reaching out to community members and restaurants and more. In addition to receiving the scholarships, the Kenyan students keep in close contact — via email, text and Zoom — with their American friends, some of whom they’ve known for four years beginning with the PETRI and Girls to Girls clubs.

Kenyan Stella Kidongi supplies an even tighter connection in her home country as SeaVuria’s direct link to the area as its full-time scholarship coordinator, mentor to the recipients and community partner.

Kidongi, who received a high school scholarship through SeaVuria and is a high school and university graduate, said Welch’s nonprofit is a powerful tool for students who otherwise couldn’t afford to attend school. If the students are having a tough time in classes, she tells them to continue their studies and not get discouraged, she said during a Zoom call with Welch and the WEE members.

“When such girls get hope and they get to go to university, that makes our community better because in the future we’ll have women who are empowered, women who can be able to take care of themselves and can be able to give back to their families and community,” said Kidongi, who was inspired by participating in her hands-on science projects, including water-quality testing, in high school.

Beebe said the Kenyan students are incredibly bright, intelligent and hardworking, and she, Cleator and Casey experienced those qualities first hand during a trip to Kenya with Welch in February of 2020 before the borders were closed due to the pandemic.

Coming from a philanthropic city like Mercer Island has driven Beebe to keep traversing the volunteering path through WEE. Beebe can see the difference she’s making for those in need, and said it’s a personal and rewarding experience to witness their diligence in the classroom.

“I’m very confident that with a university education, they’re going to go off to do amazing things for their communities,” said Beebe, a sophomore at University of Colorado Boulder. “When a woman is educated in her community, that’s the first step towards making changes in terms of ending poverty in that community because it just uplifts all the other members of the community and inspires one another.”

Washington State University freshman Roe said that she was so moved while fundraising, working hard and having fun with PETRI that she didn’t want the experience to end. After contacting Welch in January, Roe leaned into the WEE sphere and continues to lend a vital hand to her fellow college students, in the United States with WEE and across the globe through scholarships.

Cleator, a junior at Santa Clara University, feels that education is a critical part of women’s lives, from high school to college and beyond.

“I think the goal is to use some of that privilege that we have from the United States, from Mercer Island, and use our work and our resources to hopefully connect other girls around the world that don’t have that opportunity,” she said. “I find it the most fulfilling when our girls completed their first years at school and hearing about their classes, because it really makes it feel like we’re making a difference.”

Santa Clara sophomore Pickoski said she’s inspired to hear how passionate her fellow WEE members are about launching the club while participating in the Zoom interview. During the pen-pal program with the Kenyan students, she enjoys forming relationships, sharing photos from their respective weekends and noticing the similarities in their lives. It’s also a special experience to help the girls continue their education, she said of the Kenyans, who reside some 9,772 miles away from Santa Clara.

In another region of the golden state at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, junior Casey and sophomore Stomberg have added WEE into the club realm at the school and are raising funds and building a community of girls on campus.

Stomberg, who was the president of the Girls to Girls club in high school, said her WEE experience has been impactful, meaningful and motivational.

“When I graduated high school, I felt like the doors were wide open, I could go anywhere I wanted, I could pursue any goal or career that I wanted to. And I know the girls that we sponsor in Kenya, they have the same goals and dreams and aspirations that we do when they graduate,” she said.

Casey said that WEE has built a strong foundation two years into its existence and the passion is flowing from all those involved in the club.

“I think growing off of this, we’re going to be able to continue these relationships with these girls and see them grow and I think we’re just going to feed off of each other’s energy,” she said.

For more information about SeaVuria or to get involved, visit https://www.seavuria.org/.

Women’s Empowerment through Education members with their sponsor and scholarship coordinator, top: Ryan Beebe, MaryMargaret Welch and Lucy Cleator; middle: Quinn Casey, Sienna Stomberg and Olivia Pickoski; bottom: Stella Kidongi and Izzy Roe. Courtesy photo