UCI students reach out to Iraqi kids

In three years, UCI’s Baghdad School Project has shipped 7,500 packets of notebooks, pencils, erasers and rulers to schoolchildren in the war-torn country. A branch of the Dean’s Ambassadors Council in the School of Social Sciences, the organization works with the U.S. Military Postal Service to deliver the supplies, saving thousands of dollars in shipping costs. But raising money is still the group’s biggest challenge. To that effect, the group is hoping to raise funds and awareness at a reception and panel discussion 7 p.m. Thursday, May 21, in Social Science Plaza A, Room 2112. “Rebuilding Iraq: One Student at a Time” will feature social sciences lecturer Bojan Petrovic, an expert on the Middle East; Iraqi-born former Washington Post reporter Omar Fekeiki; and Iraq War veterans John A. Hanson and David Curry. More: 949-824-9229 or teresa.neighbors@uci.edu.