NORTH SALT LAKE -- Pink stripes in a teacher's hair aren't a common sight--unless you go to Wasatch Peak Academy. Throughout the school year, teachers have been putting pink stripes in their hair as students have successfully completed service projects all geared toward helping an orphanage in Ghana. Their most recent project--collecting shoes--was a hit, with students bringing in nearly 2,000 pairs of gently used or new shoes.

But that was just one of many service projects that students have been working on.

The projects began after one of the school's teachers, Andrea Facer, who has previously done service projects for Ghana, decided that she wanted to include her students in her efforts to help the country.

"I've been to Ghana before and just love it," Facer said. "At another school I taught at, we did projects for an orphanage in Ghana, and I decided that I should do the same type of projects with the students here."

So at the beginning of the year, the service projects for the orphanage began.

During the first project, students wrote, illustrated and published their own books. Some of the students wrote stories, others wrote poetry.

The books are soon to be in the hands of the orphans, as they're being shipped to Ghana this weekend with the help of students from BYU.

"They have room, so they will be shipping 14 of our boxes," said Facer. "This is one of my favorite projects because it really helps the orphans and the students here."

During the holiday season, the projects continued, with an auction and a concert held to raise money. Together, the students were able to raise nearly $3,000.

"The money raised will be used to build a new water tank," Facer said. "It's been great to see how dedicated some of these kids have been."

And that's not the end of their projects for the orphanage.

Every Friday, the school's student council holds a student-store, selling candy and bracelets, which were actually made in Ghana.

All of the money raised from the store throughout the year will go directly to the orphanage.

As for the shoes collected last week, they won't be used for walking--at least not for the orphans.

"Many of the orphans sell shoes to make money," Facer said. "We found a company that will buy the shoes from us and then sell the shoes to the orphans at a very low price. The orphans are then able to sell the shoes for a profit."

With the year coming to an end, Facer and Jillesha Johnson, a kindergarten teacher at Wasatch Peak Academy, are headed to Ghana to help deliver supplies and teach.

"It's amazing to see these kids work and get excited about such a great cause."

sryther@davisclipper.com