Special Initiatives
Stitch Uganda Together
Forest Hills School is fortunate to have a citizenship facilitator, Cory, who is leading us in offering youth in grades five to eight opportunities to develop character, express creativity and cultivate organizational skills through a variety of artistic workshops which lead to community events where they will be challenged to shine. Together we are creating culture through collective consciousness and self expression, which values relationships and environmental awareness.Teaching by example, Cory will spend the first three weeks of March in Uganda, Africa setting up community sewing rooms that will make hammocks for homeless children. These cocoon-style hammocks keep kids healthy off the wet ground and protected from mosquitoes that carry malaria. Many of the boys and girls he will encounter will have AIDS. A comfortable place to sleep can significantly help their immune systems and enable them to enjoy a fuller life. The impact of this project will be limited only by the amount of resources we can gather to buy sewing machines, fabric and rope. The cost of a sewing machine is approximately $100, and other materials will be around $15 per hammock.
The goal of this project is not just to provide free hammocks to homeless children or to provide these young people and their communities with a new income generating opportunity. It is a popular movement to demonstrate how the collective power of many people focusing their energy united in purpose can do amazing things, which will inspire a new generation of activists who will accomplish much more.
Click Here to read about Cory's journey in Uganda and to learn more about the project.
Kids Helping Kids - Our Afghanistan Supply Drive
Throughout the month of March and for part of April, the students of Kindergarten to grade 5 will be holding a supply drive for the children of Afghanistan. By reaching out to help on a global level, we hope to instill global awareness and to promote citizenship in our students. We will be collecting items that will be sent to the children of Afghanistan through the Canadian Military.Click Here to learn more about our project.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper Visits as Part of The Dominion Institute's Memory Project
On December 15, 2008 The Dominion Institute's Memory Project visited the students at Forest Hills School. This initiative brings students and veterans together to prompt meaningful discourse between the two groups in the hopes that their memories of battle will not be forgotten. This project will involved a number of our Grade 5 and Grade 8 students, where they had the opportunity to meet the veterans in a relaxed atmosphere to talk to them and learn from them firsthand what they experienced during their tenure in the military. The hope is that the students will take the stories and experiences they heard to heart and become the ones to impart this new knowledge on to their friends and siblings so that their efforts will never be forgotten.
After the students completed their time with the Veterans, they had the opportunity to hear from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and ask him some questions. In addition, Canadian comic Rick Mercer stopped in to film a holiday greeting for the Canadian Forces oversees with the Prime Minister and students from the school.
