GNS Students Celebrate with Service

On Monday, June 11, Junior and Middle School students celebrated the end of the school year with a Service Day. Some participated in a beach clean-up, some pulled invasive plant species, and some working at the Mustard Seed’s distribution warehouse. Much of the invasive species removal was focussed on English ivy near the Beach Drive Campus. The English Ivy Pull Project began three years ago when some of our now Grade 7 students were researching an IB PYP Exhibition topic on local invasive species. They discovered that the banks around the school had once been covered with Nootka roses and snowberry plants, both native to the area. This sparked the beginning of our June Service Day English ivy pull and beach clean-up. The pull has made a big difference to the re-establishment of the native species and, although the English ivy is still a persistent problem, a real difference is visible along the nearby banks. Our current Grade 4 students were able to increase our knowledge about invasive species with a presentation last Thursday. They worked in pairs researching the invasive species in our neighbourhood and then shared this ‘expert’ knowledge, which was well received by their community. We are now well versed on what invasive species to look for and what to do when we see them. Students from Grades 2 to 7 took part in the Engish ivy pull and they are very grateful to Canadian Tire Hillside and the Young family for donating pruning saws to help with our invasive species English ivy pull project. In addition to helping Kindergarten and Grade 1 students do beach clean-up at Willows Beach, Grade 8 students had the opportunity to choose between spending their day of service helping at Haliburton Farms or at the Mustard Seed. At the Mustard Seed, some students washed and sorted fresh food into individual care hampers for families in need, while others sorted a giant bin of canned Moneys mushrooms (over 1000 cans!) into boxes to be distributed to various partner agencies. Another small group got to go over to the Warehouse Club to empty the donation bins at the checkout and bring the goods back to be sorted. A final group worked as order pickers, using the Mustard Seed’s new online system that allows non-profits to see what is in stock at the warehouse (from cookies to toilet paper) and to order the exact quantities they need.  Some Grade 8 students chose to help at Haliburton Farms, a non-profit organization composed of farmers, neighbours of Haliburton Farm, educators, and community members interested in sustainable, organic agriculture. The students toured the farm and then removed an enormous pile of invasive weeds to ready a field for tilling and planting. Thank you to all these hard working staff and students for putting so much effort into making a difference in our community.