100 Year Old Contribution Has Lasting Impact On Broken Arrow Students

Oklahomans are no stranger to disaster. So when bad things happen somewhere else, we always seem ready and willing to contribute time and money to help.

This charitable nature may have its beginnings even before statehood. A helping hand extended 106 years ago is finally getting some attention.

Middle school students from Centennial Middle School in Broken arrow had a live video conference with Lowell High School in San Francisco.

"This is a little bit of history that's become personalized," said Joan West

The history she's talking about is the San Francisco earthquake. It happed April 18th 1906 and is one of the worst natural disasters in US history.

In researching the earthquake the San Francisco students discovered references to cash contributions from Broken Arrow students.

"In the documentation of the San Francisco earthquake several publications list the first cash contributions were from Broken Arrow Indian territory," West

So 106 years later, the San Francisco students decided it was high time to say thanks.

They set up a video conference. They had two Certificated of Honor from the city and county of San Francisco, and the Lowell High choir sang.

From our end, Mrs. West told the San Francisco kids a little about Broken arrow 100 years ago.

"By the way, I noticed the size of the San Francisco schools in 1906 was just about what Broken Arrow is today, 18,000 students,"

They concluded the program with a song.

It was a remarkable example of the application of today's technology in school and also the lasting impact of even the smallest contribution a century ago.

Peace Day TV provided the video feed for Thursday's live talkback.