by Rotarian Dave Bertrand
Eight area schools celebrated their Rotary Winterama accomplishments on March 25th and 26th, with Bearama there to spur them on. Altogether, the eight schools raised $28,000 for their schools, with many students seeking pledges for working toward their kilometer goals in the Cross-Canada Challenge.
This annual Rotary service project aims to support students and schools, and all money pledges raised went to their school projects, primarily related to playground equipment.
Arran-Tara Elementary topped all schools this year, with over $7,500 raised. Tara Kindergarten student Flora will get an accessible swing for her and others to use, thanks to the community-mindedness of the young Tara fundraisers and the incredible generosity of the school community.
Similarly, G.C. Huston Elementary School student fundraisers earned $6,600 toward their new playground project, which will be coming soon.
Student fundraisers from other schools also earned impressive pledge amounts to spur them along in their cross-Canada adventure, leading to thousands of dollars going toward playground activities and school nutrition programs. The three local Rotary clubs that organized and promoted the event were very impressed with this “service above self” shown by our area students and the staffs at our local elementary schools.
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Northport Public School
Saugeen District Senior School (SDSS)
St. Joseph Catholic School
Hepworth Public School
EPESC (Port Elgin)
Five of the eight schools managed to get right across Canada in February, logging their winter kilometers each day on the slick NPX Innovation Winterama website.
G.C. Huston touched the Pacific Ocean first, with Northport a few days behind them. A week later, St. Joseph’s finished, with SDSS and EPESC not far behind. The three that did not quite make it in February are finishing the journey now, as they were almost there after February 29th.
Top kilometer classes for each school earned a recess activity bucket full of fun playground equipment. Additionally, students who made 25, 50, or 75 kilometer benchmarks received individual prizes from Bearama for their impressive feat.
