Would you be up to the challenge? Miracle Beach Elementary School Grade 6/7 classes were.
From helping kids in Africa to volunteering at the local soup kitchen, the results were astounding.
Their assignment was simple: find a way to make the world a better place in five months.
After spending the first part of the school year helping make their school community better, the students brainstormed, planned, and initiated projects that were both challenging and rewarding. Students were then asked to present their projects to the classes, focussing on what they learned in the process.
The best part of this project was hearing how eye-opening this experience was for many of the students. A lot of them weren’t aware that circumstances can be drastically different for others.
“It made me feel really good inside. Like I was actually making a difference,” said Kirby, a Grade 6 student, who along with Haley and Sophia raised $600 for a charity called Embrace.
Embrace creates baby warmers to help save the lives of premature babies in India and other undeveloped countries.
Grade 6 students Rheyden and Cody volunteered once a week at the local soup kitchen. During their presentation they said that at first they thought it was all scary, but every week it got less scary, and when they finished they actually had friends there.
Stenson, another Grade 6 student, did odd jobs in his neighbourhood and sold homemade silly putty at school to raise $175.73 for YANA.
“I just like to be kind,” he mentioned during his presentation. Stenson also visited a seniors' home to help brighten other peoples’ days.
One group, including Grade 7 students Marley, Leah, Yanina, Shea, and Jacob, sold Happiness Cookies. They connected with a girl named Happiness in Africa to help send her to school. The $417 that they raised will help Happiness go to school for over a year.
“It opened my eyes to the poverty all around us,” Marley stated.
James, Austin, Kaylin, and Tanner raised $725.48 for Dawn to Dawn, a local homeless shelter for men. They hosted multiple bake sales all over town selling homemade baked goods.
“I thought it would be good to give money to a local organization,” reported Austin.”
Walker, Owen, and James also donated $188.30 to Dawn to Dawn, however, they raised their money through a community bottle drive.
Other projects saw students picking up garbage, having garage sales, donating food to the local food bank, donating money to the Red Cross, hosting a community soccer game and barbecue, raising money for the SPCA, and creating and selling dog cookies for an organization called Little Women Helping Little Women in Afghanistan.
In all, these two classes raised over $2,900 for various organizations. Each project had a different impact on each student as they all strived to make the world a better place in their own unique way.
What could you do?
— Miracle Beach Elementary School