"Me to We...With Democracy!"

We have integrated education for sustainable development initiatives into our school-wide character education program, and have been working towards developing a greater sense of “environmental citizenship” amongst our students. Our new, recently elected student council members have expressed an interest in learning more about global issues and reaching out to the international community with a variety of service projects. The opportunity for these students to “Discover their Democracy”, through collaboration, teamwork, and completing service projects, will help them gain a greater sense of global citizenship and responsibility towards our earth and others. Students will be encouraged to consider supporting a cause in which those at-risk, underprivileged or impoverished do not have a voice. Our student council members are very enthusiastic about attending Winnipeg’s We Day on October 30, 2012. Following this event, our youth will implement “Me to We” service projects, with a local and global focus. Our student council will plan a local, environmentally-themed project. They will also address a need relating to child poverty in the global community. Topics and activities will be determined by the students themselves, in a democratic, fair process. Students will also create Public Service Announcements in iMovie, which will be posted on our school’s website to encourage others to take action and support the issues identified and the projects being implemented. These PSA’s will also be shared with parents and community members at a school event showcasing the “Discover your Democracy” Imaginaction project.

Update (February 8, 2013)

The student council came together for a meeting once we received the good news that the grant was approved. They discussed amongst themselves what their local and international concerns were as far as making a democratic-action plan. The consensus was that they wanted to plan an event that would raise money to support relief efforts in Haiti. I talked to the students about a variety of options and ideas, and they passed a motion to proceed with an event. The Hoops for Haiti event will engage local youth, while raising funds for this cause. They would also be presenting at the event the type of relief that Haiti needs by creating a video project. (I know that this may have strayed a little from the initial proposal, however, the students decided amongst themselves that this was they type of project that they wanted to plan and implement. This has been their idea.) Expenses would include advertising, materials/prizes, supplies, etc.

As well, the reusable water bottle project is a school-wide initiative taken on by student council. All students in the school have been developing a greater sense of environmental awareness. The student council runs the drink machine, and they decided that they would help the local environment by no longer selling water in plastic bottles. They wanted to make it fair, in that all students should have equal access to filtered, clean water, not just the ones that can pay for the bottled water from the machine. They collectively decided that they would create an awareness campaign about the hazards of disposable plastics, and how easy it is to simply bring your own water bottle, refill it, and avoid adding to the plastic waste problem. The students chose this project, and have decided that $250 of the grant would go towards the water filter that all students would have free access to, along with signage, with a small portion towards the bottles. They will be presenting to their fellow students in each of the classrooms about the importance of participating in this project.

The students were given some decision-making leverage, as they developed their "Me to We...With Democracy" project. They have lots of good ideas and tons of enthusiasm. The link to theme of democracy is that the students are engaged in democratic leadership; "democracy" takes the shape of the experiential learning opportunities provided in the grant project as they collaborate on their service projects. They are discussing, voting and planning, as they represent the interests of those other students in the school that they represent.

Update (March 22, 2013)

The Oak Lake Community School Student Council has been working together towards implementing the “Me to We with Democracy” CTF Imagineaction grant project. While discussing their local and international concerns, and developing the school-wide action projects, the students have demonstrated a great deal of leadership and respect for democracy. These students are an elected group, representing the student body at our school, and their priority was to create projects that reflected the values of our school and have a positive impact on both our student population and greater community. They spent a great deal of time in their formal meetings, discussing and debating the direction of their projects. The direction that they ultimately took was to support the theme of “clean drinking water”. Impressively, it was truly a student-led initiative, with the students’ voice resonating throughout the project planning process.
After a great deal of discussion the consensus amongst the council was to move forward with a “Hoops for Hope” event. Originally, they were set on benefiting relief efforts in Haiti, however, they voted and decided that the Hoops for Hope event would benefit the Kenya 2013 group of Oak Lake students traveling to Africa with the purpose of building fresh water wells for villagers. The student council demonstrated a great deal of democratic decision-making while they prioritized the activities and duties relating to planning this event and applying the overall theme of “clean drinking water”. Jobs were delegated, with the student council president overseeing progress. The creativity, organization skills and dedication to this project shown by these students was very impressive. The Hoops for Hope project was an opportunity to plan an event for the greater good, and act in the interest of others. Members of the Brandon University Mens and Womens Basketball teams mentored the youth players who signed up for the event, and provided a day-long basketball clinic and scrimmage challenge. The event was extremely engaging; throughout the day youth were reminded of how fortunate they are living in rural Canada with the numerous opportunities that they have both in school and in their communities. Participating in this basketball event, while helping others, was a valuable learning experience.
For the local project, student council decided that they wanted access to clean, filtered, fresh water at our school to be fair. The student council is in charge of the drink machine set up in the hallway (the funds collected from the sale of drinks provides a small income for the council). Environmental initiatives have been a priority area for our school. All students in the school have been learning about the problem with plastics, and how our the environment (land, rivers, oceans and lakes) are negatively impacted by plastic water bottles. Even though selling water is a revenue generator, the student council decided as a group that the environmental cost of selling water was simply too high, and that each student had a right to clean water free of cost. Hence, they developed the “H2O on the Go!” reusable water bottle campaign, outfitting each student with a reusable water bottle and installing a filter on a centrally located sink, accessible to everyone in the school. Plain, bottled water is no longer for sale in the drink machine; instead, everyone has access to fresh, filtered, clean water at the new fill station.
Both of these student-led projects provided for community integration as students accessed mentors and promoted positive change. We appreciate the opportunity to implement our “Me to We with Democracy” CTF Imagineaction project. The experiential learning opportunity, to put democracy in action and see the positive results that working together, listening to each other, and respecting everyone’s opinions, was invaluable. Our student council took the responsibility of representing students in our school very seriously, and this Imagineaction project provided the opportunity to create positive change both within our school, our community and beyond! We appreciate the generous support from the Canadian Teachers’ Federation and believe that our Imagination project has been a very positive difference, while providing the opportunity to put democracy into action.