South Rutland Elementary is getting more involved with reading thanks to some help from Rutland Senior Secondary students.
The Grade 12 students held a dance and karaoke night fundraiser for new books for the elementary’s library.
The proceeds will go towards purchasing books by Adrienne Gear and expanding on the new requirement set by the provincial government to have more First Nations content in classrooms, said South Rutland principal Mike Watson, who used to be the vice-principal of RSS.
Altogether, $600 was raised for new books.
The high school students visited the elementary school Friday, June 23 and read stories to kindergarten and Grade 1 students.
Grade 12 student Kiran Jacob is a South Rutland Elementary alumni and said he was looking forward to reading to the younger kids.
“I thought it wold be cool to raise money because I used to go here and it’s a great school. We also had a connection with the principal here,” he said. Jacob also volunteers at the elementary school as part of his psychology class.
He remembers looking up to the Kelowna Rockets when he was young and wants to carry on the feeling of mentorship.
“I think it’s important to give back to the elementary schools because one day the students will look back and say ‘older kids did that for us…’ maybe it’ll pass (mentoring) along,” said Grade 12 student Kara Savage.
The fundraiser was part of a grad legacy service project. Those on the grad legacy council created the idea to get a more personal experience with helping the community.
Last week, the elementary school celebrated its 50th birthday.