Whiz Kid: Roeper Student Studies Fair Trade During England Trip

Each week, Bloomfield Patch features students doing amazing things in their schools and in their communities. This week, we feature a 5th grader that already has an appreciation for international trade and commerce.

Mac Lancaster

• Age: 11
• School:

• Achievement: Lancaster, a 5th-grade student and Bloomfield Hills resident, recently returned from a trip to Manchester, England where he studied fair trade issues at the Lorna Young Foundation, an organization that advocates fair trade. Lancaster has been blogging about his experiences on his blog, http://macrox.tumblr.com.

• Key to Awesomeness: Lancaster became interested in studying fair trade policies after his mother returned from working with tea farmers in Rwanda, who then taught Lancaster about how fair trade works.
  
  "Mac is an incredibly bright student (who) is very passionate about causes he believes he may be able to help in some way," said Chris Cigan, Lancaster's teacher at Roeper. "His maturity and understanding of world issues at such a young age is extremely impressive. We are very excited for Mac to have the opportunity to discuss, and learn more about, fair trade."
  
  During his trip, Lancaster interviewed the director of the Lorna Young Foundation, Christina Longden. Lancaster also arranged a meeting with filmmakers Marc and Nick Francis at their United Kingdom premiere of When China Met Africa. The filmmakers directed the documentary Black Gold, an in-depth look at the world of coffee and global trade.

Do you know our next Whiz Kid?

Bloomfield Patch welcomes suggestions for students, youth groups and even sports teams who wow us with their accomplishments. We want to hear about amazing children and teens and select one each week as Whiz Kid. Submit your nomination in our comment box below or email the information to editor Art.Aisner@patch.com. Please include all these details:

• Nominator's name
• Whiz Kid's name and age
• Whiz Kid's school
• Whiz Kid's accomplishment
• What makes him or her successful