LISTOWEL – A group of enthusiastic students in Mrs. Harmer’s Grade 12 business leadership class successfully collected donations totaling $1,727.45 in support of humanitarian efforts for the people affected by the war in Ukraine.
The weeklong fundraising event ran from March 21- 25, and was positioned as a ‘challenge’ to see which period three class could bring in the highest donation amount. The incentive for the classes were freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies from the LDSS (Chartwells) cafeteria for the winners. Since the cafeteria had been closed for two years due to local health restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the tasty reward proved very popular among students.
To get the students interested in the initiative, Mrs. Harmer’s class first discussed the concept of service learning – applying classroom concepts to real-world service activities that address human or community needs. LDSS vice-principal Rob Simmons visited the class and described the unfathomable invasion of Ukraine by their Russian neighbours.
Mr. Simmons brought both personal and professional knowledge of the country as he and his wife spent several years teaching in the Ukraine from 1999-2001.
The business leadership students were challenged to come up with a plan to educate the student body about the crisis and to execute a plan to get funds collected in a timely manner. From visits to all period three classes where a pre-written script was read, promotion of the humanitarian fundraiser on the school’s social media platforms and on morning announcements, and collecting and counting the cash at the end of the week, the leadership class did it all.
“Throughout the process of planning and executing the LDSS Ukraine Fundraiser, I believe that not only did it teach and inform the students of LDSS about the conflict overseas, but also allowed them to be a part of something for the greater good,” said Grade 11 student Kaylie Liang when asked why this activity was meaningful to her.
When asked how service learning relates to business leadership, Grade 12 student Nathan Elg stated, “It gives people the opportunity to develop many useful skills across many fields such as communication, collaboration, leadership, problem solving, decision making, risk taking, and critical thinking.”
The winning class, Mr. Katerberg’s Grade 10 transportation technology class, collected an impressive total of $400.25 in order to win the coveted Chartwells cafeteria cookies.
The cookies were delivered by Mrs. Harmer’s class, and cafeteria manager, Jayne Mullins, on March 29. The cheque in the collected amount of $1,727.45 will be sent to the Canadian Red Cross to be put toward their Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal.
