What does it take to make the world a better place? It takes a village of children – children who are empowered to do so, that is. Here’s what happens when you have such a village:

• Four boys in grade 4 are organizing a Haunted House fundraiser for breast cancer research;
• Five girls in grade 2 are organizing a food drive, and four others a toy drive;
• Two girls in grade 4 are ramping up for their third year of their “Fair Food Friday” awareness campaign;
• Two others in grade 4 spoke at assembly to remind everyone to say thank you when the door is held for them;
• Two gentlemen in grade 8 are preparing for this year’s “Walk to School Wednesday” campaign (which has led to exponential increases since it began three years ago in the number of students walking to and from school);
• Two other grade 8s are delivering math enrichment workshops for younger students;
• A group in grade six is organizing an art contest;
• A group in grade 7 is organizing our school’s participation in “The Vow of Silence” to promote awareness of and an end to child labour;
• One new student in grade three took the initiative to pick up garbage on the field beyond what was asked;
• Another new student in grade three taught his class about his favourite charity “Helping Hands”;
• All of our grade four students helped organize our Terry Fox Run;
• Sixteen House Captains stirred up our KCS spirit;
• “Compliment Friday”;
• “Free Hug and High Five Friday”;
• “Talent for Treats”;
• “Turn Out the Lights Tuesday”;
• Volleyball for the Food Bank;
• A winter coat drive;
• Art for shelters;
• Club leaders;
• Recess helpers;
• Lunch supervisors…

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Be sure to visit our homepage for regularly updated student-led leadership initiatives – we’ll be featuring them in the news feed.

The world has a lot of room to be made better. Adults are unable to do it alone. Empower the children in your village to use their talents and desires to make a difference. You’ll be amazed at the difference they make.

Andrea Fanjoy,
Assistant Head, Academics

You can follow Andrea on Twitter @afanjoy.