The Wish Prince / Teachers / Students / Rotary Clubs / Donors
The Wish Prince Project is a project of the Rotary Club of Beaverton. It will bring The Wish Prince bilingual (Spanish/English) book to third grade students in high needs schools within the Beaverton School District. The book is a charity project in service to children and building literacy in partnership with the Beaverton Rotary Foundation.
The book’s purpose is to help students learn to set goals by following five simple daily steps to develop the mindset and skills to achieve their goals and live their dreams. Secondary objectives are to support reading and to aid the transition from Spanish to English.
Janet Chvatal is the principal creative contributor to the Wish Prince Project. Janet received her elementary and secondary education in the Beaverton School District, trained in opera at Boston University College of Fine Arts, and studied opera at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna through winning a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship. Janet has participated in many charitable activities in the Beaverton area and with the Rotary Club of Beaverton.
The Wish Prince Project carries on from prior Wish Prince activities in the Beaverton School District and in Germany. The Wish Prince was first written in German and has been presented to 4,000 students in Germany. In 2019, an English language edition of The Wish Prince was produced, and with the aid of members of the Rotary Club of Beaverton, over 500 copies have been given out to students in Beaverton schools. This most recent Beaverton effort was supported by the late Howard Hedinger, a Portland philanthropist.
The principal device is a printed book, The Wish Prince, provided to the students and followed up by a visit from The Wish Prince and his entourage. Under the Project, a new bilingual edition of The Wish Prince will be produced. Each page of The Wish Prince features colorful graphics and English and Spanish rhyming text.
The teaching method is via reading and listening entertainment in an artful presentation designed to capture the students’ interest, engage parents and families to become involved and to help the students remember and use five simple daily steps described in the book. In addition, there are supplemental materials available to teachers, parents and others on The Wish Prince website including free drawing downloads, songs, and additional methods and ideas to accompany the tools offered in the book.
The Wish Prince Project is designed as a pilot which may have application to other Rotary clubs, as well as to further use in Beaverton. It can be replicated within the Beaverton School District and by providing the materials and procedures to other Rotary Clubs, for possible sponsored use in their areas. The scope of the current effort will depend upon the funding provided.