Darius Goes West - One Year. One Million DVDs.

Darius was a rising sophomore at Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia, when the footage for his multi-award-winning film, Darius Goes West, was captured. The crew was, for the most part, seniors at Clarke Central or freshmen in college when Darius first left home. All of us met while in middle school, high school, or college, and that is where we also hope to “meet” you. So…we’ve created the “Know About It” program to make that meeting possible.

The Darius Goes West “Know About It” program has won the highest praise from Dr. Mark Wilson, National Principal of the Year. It offers big benefits for students and has won rave reviews from students and teachers alike at over 200 schools across the country that have adopted it. The program is especially popular in middle schools, high schools and colleges–perhaps because peers understand peers–and because, ultimately, Darius Goes West is a story about the power of friendship and how trying to reach seemingly impossible goals can actually be a lot of fun.

Darius and the crew love being on talk shows (like Ellen DeGeneres, The Today Show, and ABC Nightline), and we love hosting Q&As at fancy venues with hundreds–even thousands–of viewers. But our greatest joy comes from visiting a class or school that is excited about helping raise money and awareness for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). It is Darius’s dream to affect a cure for DMD. All of our proceeds go to Charley’s Fund for this purpose.

BRING DARIUS TO YOUR SCHOOL!
Darius recently celebrated his 20th birthday. He spent most of his 19th year on the road with his crew visiting as many schools as possible. Due to the stresses of the road, he’s not able to travel as much, but by participating in our “Know About It” program), your school could…

SKYPE WITH DARIUS
We’re passionate about raising funds to help cure DMD, but we need your help to succeed. Last year, middle and high school students across America raised over $85,000 for DMD research. We hope you’ll join their ranks by watching Darius Goes West and organizing a fundraiser of your own (or helping us sell DVDs, DGW t-shirts, etc). In fact, if your school raises at least $100 for our cause, you will earn a FREE Skype session with Darius. Get in touch if you’d like to make this happen.

OR WIN A VISIT FROM DARIUS AND THE CREW!
Last May/June, we visited the top four schools that raised the most money for our cause, and we’ll be doing it again this May/June.  Yes, once again, four schools will win a visit from Darius (so long as his health permits it) and as many of the crew as we can round up.  Click here for contest rules.

ONE OF THE EASIEST WAYS TO RAISE MONEY FOR OUR CAUSE IS TO PURCHASE DGW MERCHANDISE. We offer student/group discounts if you download and use our group/student order form to do this. Also, check out our “Honor Roll” of schools to see what other schools have done so far in terms of helping us fund a cure for DMD and to get ideas and inspiration on how to hold your own fund-raiser. Questions? Feel free to contact us.

THE DARIUS GOES WEST CURRICULUM
Meanwhile, we invite teachers to peruse the viewing guides and lesson plans we’ve created in hopes of making your very important job a little bit easier. To download the curriculum click any of the links below.

DGW General Discussion Questions
DGW Viewing Guide
DGW Science Lesson Plan
DGW Social Studies Lesson Plan (1)
DGW Social Studies Lesson Plan (2)
DGW English Lesson Plan
DGW Math Lesson Plan
DGW Math Addendum

WE WELCOME TEACHER-CREATED MATERIALS
DGW Hopes And Dreams

Have you taught DGW using a different lesson plan? If you’d like to share your lesson plan with the rest of the Know About It community, please contact us.