by Adam Gault
Students and staff members at Gosfield North Public School had much to be proud of at their October end-of-the-month school assembly, which took place on Halloween morning. The school presented a cheque for $6900.00 to the Terry Fox Foundation, and the girls’ and boys’ soccer teams celebrated their pennant and district wins, respectively.
As part of the school’s fundraising efforts for the Terry Fox Foundation, the teachers had challenged the students, noting if their fundraising efforts were great enough, several of the teachers would allow themselves to be taped to the gymnasium wall.
True to their word, different students came forward prior to the beginning of the assembly, taking their turn in applying the duct tape to the lucky, or unlucky, faculty member chosen for the deed.
“[The students] had come up with the plan, and asked permission if they could go forward with it,” Gosfield North Public School’s Principal, Helen Dean, explained.
That idea was first brought forward by the grade 7 and 8 leadership students, who in addition to providing important examples of leadership to the younger students, are also tasked with directing and planning the monthly assemblies.
“They arrange what we’re going to do in our assemblies, they do the planning activities for that,” Dean said. “Any type of fundraiser or school-wide event that we have, they would go into different classes and talk to the kids about that.”
Dean added that it is incredibly important to give students the opportunity to engage in these type of leadership roles during their formative years, as it sets them up to continue to develop these skills while they progress in life and their scholastic careers.
“With the guidance and structure of having the adults there to ensure things are going well, it helps them to build that self-esteem and confidence to go forward with those characteristics as they move on in life and be able to do these things independently.”
Although the assembly itself was a light, fun way to celebrate Halloween, Principal Dean said she hoped the students will remember the more serious, but nevertheless positive message of determination Terry Fox exemplified nearly 40 years ago.
“[It is] that message of hope, and that message of never giving up,” Dean explained. “We have cancer survivors in our school, both among our staff and our students. So, it hits very close to home as I think it does in any community, but definitely within our school building.”