If you’re an IB student, then you must be familiar with the CAS project based on donations that accepted old glasses that were reusable. And if you’re not an IB student, you must have seen boxes all around school, whether in one of your teacher’s classrooms or the counselor’s office, labeled as “Glasses Donations” along with your teacher explaining what it’s about. The girl that is behind this project is IB junior Caroline Bauwens. The steps Bauwens took was first to collect as many prescription glasses as she could to then clean them. Every Sunday, she uses a machine in her optometrist’s store to find the prescription in each and every one of the glasses she obtained. One day, she decided to ask previous IB students that have done similar drives like these at school when she came up with the idea that she can be able to collect used glasses in school instead of limiting herself to her optometrist’s store. Bauwens spoke to the activities director, Mrs. Suarez, and Mrs. Zuniga who advised her on how to set the project up. In the end, Caroline had a box in 30 different classrooms dedicated for placing used glasses. “Mrs.Suarez had the answer to all my questions, I couldn’t have started the drive without her. As for Mrs. Zuniga, she helped me communicate my project to other teachers, she was my sponsor to help me out with the collection,” Bauwens said. The reason why Caroline Bauwens rounded up approximately 770 spectacles and cases is because she is first retouching the glasses to gift them to those who are unfortunate to not have anything to guide them with their eyesight. She is doing this because she herself is myopic and she can imagine how difficult it must be for them in their daily life not having any assistance like we do in the U.S.; Caroline is going to travel to Haiti a few weeks after the 2013-2014 school year is over to donate them. “I have a tie to Haiti because I usually spend my time on the weekends at the Little Haiti Cultural Center where I teach a French class to children; it’s been helpful to me and it won’t be difficult at all since I’m familiar with the country,” Bauwens said. This adventure went from an IB project for community hours to a heart-warming experience for Caroline. The junior’s expectations for the next couple of years is to continue teaching the children in Little Haiti and maybe have the chance to go again to Haiti next summer.