Parkland students discovered a lot about 18 different charities in the Greater Victoria area while working in groups to advocate for a local, grassroots, social charity as part of the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative.
“It really bridges that gap between school and community and it shows the community what our students are capable of,” said teacher Heidi Hackman. “We looked at their values and what was important to them.”
The Planning 10 students broke into groups to look at social issues that were important them, then researched charities that aligned with those issues.
“From that they’ve made contact with the charity, some students have started volunteering with their organization and now they’ve created a presentation.”
Those were judged by a panel at Parkland secondary on Wednesday, May 23.
“Once the students made contact with these charities that’s when the fire got lit,” she said. “These students saw the passion that these mostly volunteers have and could see first hand the difference that the organizations are having in their community.”
Judges chose the presentation by students Lexa Borella, Gaven Pitcher, Melissa Rickson and Tori Dmytar which earned the charity Need2 $5,000. The program is run through the Toskan Casale Foundation.
The YPI program aims to give secondary school students a hands-on experience through an academic philanthropy program. Students get the opportunity to assess community needs and make grants to grassroots charitable organizations.