Grade 6 Students Take Action on UN Global Goals

May 12, 2023

GNS

The Grade 6s wrapped up their Global Goal Action Projects. In their IB MYP Individuals and Societies class, students learned about the 17 United Nations Global Goals that were developed by world leaders to build a greener, fairer, better world by 2030. Each student then selected the goals that they wanted to help the United Nations achieve. The goals are:

No poverty.
Zero hunger.
Good health and well-being.
Quality education.
Affordable and clean energy.
Decent work and economic growth.
Industry, innovation and infrastructure.
Reduced inequalities.
Sustainable cities and communities.
Responsible consumption and production.
Climate action.
Life below water.
Life on land.
Peace, justice and strong institutions.
Partnerships for the goals.

This year, students designed a variety of projects to help raise awareness about their chosen goal.

Kate McLaren chose the goal of ‘Peace, justice and strong institutions,’ and she organized a swim-a-thon with her swim club to raise money for Ukraine.

“It went well; around 40 people showed up,” said Kate. “We raised more than $6,000 and it was really fun. I really loved my project.”

Allie Sanga’s project focused on “Affordable and clean energy,’ and her action was to spread awareness about it.

“I made posters and decorated rocks and put them around Oak Bay,” she explained. “It went well. I spoke to environmentalists and they were happy with the work I was doing. I wanted to do this because I learned about renewable energy like solar panels and windmills in Grade 4 at the Junior School, so I wanted to learn more about it.”

Leif Angus chose the ‘Life below water’ Global Goal and his action was to collect ocean data to understand what is happening in oceans and to try to help fix the problems using an autonomous boat, a boat where no humans are on board and can be controlled remotely on land.

“It went well,” he said. “One of the downsides, though, was that we couldn’t always launch the boat when it was rough outside. My favourite part of the project was going to the beach and following the boat.”

Rivka Mills focused on the ’Life on land’ Global Goal and raised money for the David Suzuki Foundation by drawing and selling pet portraits.

“I completed 10 portraits and raised $50 for the foundation,” Rivka said. “I wanted to choose this Global Goal and project because I like animals, and I wanted to work with a charity I hadn’t learned about before.”

Meenanshi Syal’s goal was ‘Good health and well-being’ and her action was to organize a raffle for a gift basket supporting the Island Kids Cancer Association.

“I raised a lot of money, more than I expected. I raised around $1,600,” she said. “Throughout the process, I went door-to-door to sell tickets, and my mom helped me set up a website to sell tickets online. We got a lot of cool people donating. Then I did a raffle at Beckwith Park.”

Amy Robinson also chose the goal of ‘Good health and well-being,’ and she raised money for the Canadian Red Cross Earthquake Appeal in Turkey and Syria.

“To help raise more money, I cycled a 60km route around the three main hospitals on Southern Vancouver Island. I ended up raising over $3,000,” she said. “When I found out about the earthquake in Turkey and Syria I really wanted to help.”

Fynn Humber picked the Global Goal of ‘Quality education’ so he decided to gather books to donate to 1000×5 Books, which collects books to improve early literacy development in the Capital Region.

“It half worked out,” he said. “I was able to build a free library so people could take out and return books, but the donation didn’t work because it took a while to hear back and they were only accepting books for certain ages. Overall, I was really happy with what I did.”

All of the Grade 6s came up with meaningful action projects to support their Global Goals. In the end, students shared presentations on everything they did, how the projects went and what they would change if they could do the project again. After going through the process, the Grade 6s had some advice for their peers who will be embarking on a similar journey next year.

“Pick something that you think you would like and do something fun,” said Allie.

“Make a schedule so you can be sure you have time to commit to your goal,” said Fynn.

“If you do a draw or something similar, don’t be disappointed if nobody comes. It’s not like they don’t care, but people are a little busy so they might not come. You just need to persevere, find your goal and something you want to do and just do it,” said Meenanshi.

“When picking the action for your goal, make sure it’s something you are passionate about and care about,” said Amy.

“Time is really important. I thought I had more time than I did, so I would work on time management,” said Rivka.

“Think outside of the box, even if you think something may be too hard, you can still do it and it will turn out really fun,” said Kate.