MBA students send school supplies to Afghanistan

The following was posted on 11 May 2010 by Tiffany Geter © Wright State University Guardian Newspaper

One Wright State student's mother inspires 100 students and 20 teachers to send school supplies to Afghanistan.

Kick’n It Old School is the name of the group in Dr. Baker’s MBA Project Management class that consists of eight students including project manager Matthew Janning, assistant project manager Mary Sparks, Angela Bethel, Wade Smith, William Mclain, Elizabeth Lacher, Gillian Minsky and Caroline Shelton.

The idea was brought to life when one of the students in the group, Angela Bethel, received a letter from her mother, Maj. Caralee Capone, which explained how kids in Afghanistan were in desperate need of school supplies and how she felt this would be an excellent service project for Angela’s management course. Maj. Capone also happens to be a Wright State University graduate of the MBA program (MBA ’99, Management Information Systems) and was a former student of Dr. Baker as well.

“We felt this would be the perfect project because it would boost the soldiers' spirits knowing someone back at home cares about what they’re doing in Afghanistan,” said Bethel.

The group collected over a $1,000 worth of donations from over a dozen local companies in the community to purchase the school supplies.

Capone, who is deployed in Kabul, is their point of contact and will distribute the school supplies to the needy Afghan school children.

The school supplies were individually packaged on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at WSU’s Raj Soin College of business and the shipment was sent from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to Afghanistan on Friday May 7, 2010.