Students at Ecole Notre-Dame des Vallees have been keeping very busy these last few weeks, and not just with schoolwork.
All of the students in the school have been working with their classmates in each grade to raise money for a charity of their choice. When they added it all up, they realized that as a school they had raised over $3,000.
“I think that it was a good experience for us. We proved to ourselves that we can do anything we want to if we try,” said 12-year-old Foster Stainthorpe, who is currently in Grade 7 at the school.
Stainthorpe said that his class, made up of Grade 7 and 8 students, held a silent auction and a cookie sale at their Christmas concert. They divided the money they raised between the Cochrane Activettes and the Cochrane and Area Humane Society.
Other classes chose their own charities and projects that they wanted to complete, such as collecting new and used toys and selling T-shirts.
Stainthorpe said that most of the students were surprised that they had raised that much money, but were also very excited. The students were inspired to do this project, according to Stainthorpe, when he and fellow Grade 7 and 8 students from the school attended We Day.
“It was quite inspiring because there was a lot of speakers telling you that you can change the world by just a small act and that nothing can stop you,” he said.
Alberta We Day took place in Calgary at the Scotiabank Saddledome Nov. 3. The event was created by Free the Children to celebrate the power of youth to create positive change and features a number of speakers.
We Day is tied to the year-long We Act program, which offers free educational resources, student-led campaigns and support materials to help turn the event’s inspiration into sustained activation.
Ecole Notre Dame des Vallees teacher Adele Scott said that having the fundraising be student-led is important because it ‘gives them ownership.’
“They come out of We Day feeling empowered and they feel honestly like they can achieve absolutely anything and this is proof that they can,” she said. “My hope is that this is the beginning for their initiative to contribute to society. Make the world a better place.”
Stainthorpe said that after the Christmas break they are going to continue with their initiatives, although he said they haven’t chosen the charities they would be raising money for yet.
Scott said she thought the school might move to a more global focus for fundraising in the new year, whereas this time they focused on issues that are closer to their community.
