A green space nestled close to New Minas Elementary School will soon undergo a transformation thanks to a community-wide response to a national voting contest.
The school claimed the $20,000 grand prize in the Majesta Trees of Knowledge competition.
The money will be used for the installation of an outdoor classroom near a brook the students already use for a trout release project.
“It’s nice to get out of the school environment. It kind of triggers a different thought mechanism for the children and it’s refreshing,” says vice-principal Diana Dunn.
“It just gives them a whole different outlook on where they can do their learning and do some of their work.”
New Minas Elementary was a frontrunner in the race for votes from the onset of the month-long contest, but Dunn admits they did start to feel a tad discouraged in the final weeks of voting.
“We had been in the lead for the first week plus and then we lost our lead,” she says.
“There was a school in Quebec that just seemed to have the edge on us for the rest of it.”
Parents, teachers, students, business owners and community members rallied together to brainstorm new and exciting ways to motivate the general public to cast their votes for New Minas Elementary.
Two teachers wrote a song that focused on the benefits of getting outdoors, students and staff lined Commercial Street April 24 for to rally for votes and parents helped their children promote the contest on social media.
Despite the widespread response to their efforts, news of the win still came as a pleasant surprise.
“We were shocked. We were sure we came in second,” says Dunn.
Now it’s time to draw back on previous brainstorming sessions and come up with a design for the outdoor classroom. Ideally, Dunn says the project will be completed in the fall.
“Everything was sort of a wish list before this and now it’s a reality,” she says.
Dunn hopes the final product will be something that can be shared with, and appreciated by, the community supporters that made it happen.
“We couldn’t have done it without them,” she says.
“We’re very excited and we’re hoping to share the preliminary design within the next few weeks.”
A green space nestled close to New Minas Elementary School will soon undergo a transformation thanks to a community-wide response to a national voting contest.
The school claimed the $20,000 grand prize in the Majesta Trees of Knowledge competition.
The money will be used for the installation of an outdoor classroom near a brook the students already use for a trout release project.
“It’s nice to get out of the school environment. It kind of triggers a different thought mechanism for the children and it’s refreshing,” says vice-principal Diana Dunn.
“It just gives them a whole different outlook on where they can do their learning and do some of their work.”
New Minas Elementary was a frontrunner in the race for votes from the onset of the month-long contest, but Dunn admits they did start to feel a tad discouraged in the final weeks of voting.
“We had been in the lead for the first week plus and then we lost our lead,” she says.
“There was a school in Quebec that just seemed to have the edge on us for the rest of it.”
Parents, teachers, students, business owners and community members rallied together to brainstorm new and exciting ways to motivate the general public to cast their votes for New Minas Elementary.
Two teachers wrote a song that focused on the benefits of getting outdoors, students and staff lined Commercial Street April 24 for to rally for votes and parents helped their children promote the contest on social media.
Despite the widespread response to their efforts, news of the win still came as a pleasant surprise.
“We were shocked. We were sure we came in second,” says Dunn.
Now it’s time to draw back on previous brainstorming sessions and come up with a design for the outdoor classroom. Ideally, Dunn says the project will be completed in the fall.
“Everything was sort of a wish list before this and now it’s a reality,” she says.
Dunn hopes the final product will be something that can be shared with, and appreciated by, the community supporters that made it happen.
“We couldn’t have done it without them,” she says.
“We’re very excited and we’re hoping to share the preliminary design within the next few weeks.”
