Eighteen students from schools throughout School District #83 assigned some $14,000 to various projects last Friday.
And they did so with careful thought, kindness, compassion and collaboration.
Observing the Me to We meeting was school superintendent Glenn Borthistle, who drew a laugh from the students by telling them he had just tweeted about the meeting.
“Watching… We Day committee decide how $14,000 in fundraising will be spent. Wish we adults made decisions this well.”
Grade 12 student Samantha Schumacher chaired the meeting of elementary, middle and high school Me to We committee members, allowing students to share ideas and opinions.
The $14,000 is the total amount raised this year in the district-wide Toonie Tuesday and the second annual Water Walk held Oct. 29.
Committee members read through a series of six grant proposals put forward by students from North Shuswap Elementary School, Carlin Elementary Middle School, Grindrod Elementary, Highland Park Elementary in Armstrong and two from Eagle River Secondary in Sicamous. The two most expensive proposals involved the SPCA, with North Shuswap Elementary students requesting $350 to make dog cookies to take to the Kamloops branch where they plan to volunteer once a month,
The Carlin Leadership Team asked for $352.25 for a project currently underway to make adoption packages consisting of blankets, treats and toys for people who adopt dogs from the local SPCA branch.
Grade 11 student Alex Corbett expressed uncertainty about the overall benefit to the SPCA projects and his preference for giving more than the $213.68 requested by Highland Park students for ingredients to make homemade goodies to raise funds for the needy at Christmas.
Schumacher suggested both proposals have merit but suggested they be held until the other proposals were considered.
They included a $74 “Bake For Change” request from Grindrod Elementary for ingredients to make baked goodies for sale at the Christmas concert to help raise funds for a community park.
Eagle River Secondary’s Social Justice class requested $22.56 to make homemade, non-toxic crayon lipsticks for sale at a school craft sale in order to raise funds to buy children’s books.
The social justice class also asked for $13.21 to cover the cost of making moustaches for Movember that are being sold at lunchtime and will be sold at a craft fair, with dollars raised going to the Make a Wish foundation.
At the end of the 40-minute meeting, each of the School District #83 funding requests were approved, leaving close to $12,000 to be donated to the village of Asemkow in Ghana.