École Salish students earn $1,500 for charity in inaugural Salish Philanthropy Project
The first place team in the inaugural Salish Philanthropy Project earned $1,000 for the charity of their choice, R.E.C. for Kids, which provides reconditioned sports equipment to disadvantaged youth in Surrey and Cloverdale. From left, École Salish Secondary principal Sheila Hammond; Surrey Board of Education Chair Laurie Larsen; Grade 10 students Cole Faith, Logan Singh, Jestin Robinson, Naysa Samera and Jessica Wilson; SBoE Vice-Chair Gary Tymoschuk; and teachers Nicole Jarvis, Gino Missana and Tammy Le.
Two teams of Grade 10 students from École Salish Secondary won $1,500 for charities of their choice through the school’s first ever Salish Philanthropy Project, challenging students to research local charities and present on why their cause of choice is deserving of donation money.
Inspired by the Youth & Philanthropy Initiative (YPI), Career & Life Education teacher Gino Missana introduced the project to his students and provided a list of local, registered charities to present on. YPI offered $1,000 for the first-place charity and $500 for the second place charity.
“At the start of the year, we do a lot of values assessments with our students, and I discovered many of them were natural givers,” he said. “Some of their values aligned deeply with philanthropy and helping out families and communities. It was an even better fit than I thought.”
The selected charities were all about helping people or environmental causes impacting people within Surrey and the Cloverdale area. Through the project, students had to demonstrate an understanding of the ins and outs of their charity, including its needs, social issues, finances, decision-making processes, local impact and next steps in future growth.
“It was really cool to see 15-year-olds dissect a charity and see how they help people from front to back,” said Missana.
Students Naysa Samera, Jessica Wilson, Logan Singh, Cole Faith and Jestin Robinson made up the winning team for their presentation on the R.E.C. for Kids Society, which provides reconditioned sports and recreational equipment to children in need south of the Fraser River.
“We wanted to choose a social issue that wouldn’t be chosen by a lot of other groups,” said Singh. “We took up access to resources because equality was one of the core values we had in common.”
“We decided on R.E.C. for Kids because sports have had a big impact on our lives,” added Wilson. “I think what set us apart from the other groups was we wanted to have more of a creative aspect to our project.”
For their project, Samera created an animated cartoon using an app with a timelapse feature to tell a fictional story about two disadvantaged brothers and how sports helped them overcome struggles in their lives. Their presentation touched on several benefits of R.E.C. for Kids, including keeping sporting goods out of landfills and the importance of sports in communities.
“We screen recorded the timelapses of my drawings and put them together in a video, and our presentation was us talking over the video,” said Samera. “It was really hard to get the timing right of every sentence, it was pretty complicated but cool to see it working.”
The second-place team – students Josh Daum, Dylan Patrick, Colton Black, Diya Kajla, David Cho – presented on the Lookout Housing & Health Society and its efforts to combat homelessness in the Lower Mainland.
Missana said many students found the project helped them connect with classmates they didn’t know very well, and helped them have discussions with adults and ask questions. It also prompted many to reflect on their privileges and advantages in life compared to others.
“Some of the kids have expressed interest in volunteering with their charity and made relationships and connections to do so,” he said. “This is a great lead-in for students to get more involved in their communities.”
Congratulations to the winning teams of the first ever Salish Philanthropy Project!
The second place team in the inaugural Salish Philanthropy Project earned $500 for the charity of their choice, the Lookout Housing & Health Society, which addresses homelessness in the Lower Mainland. From left, École Salish Secondary principal Sheila Hammond; Surrey Board of Education Chair Laurie Larsen; Grade 10 students Josh Daum, Dylan Patrick, Colton Black, Diya Kajla and David Cho; SBoE Vice-Chair Gary Tymoschuk; and teachers Nicole Jarvis, Gino Missana and Tammy Le.
