Grade 5 Leadership Club is making their mark on SJS, and helping the community in the process.
Grade 5 is a big year at SJS! It’s their final year in the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and in the Junior School, and as role models for the younger students these young leaders take their responsibility seriously—expecially those in Leadership Club. This co-curricular gives a group of Grade 5 students each term the opportunity to hone their leadership skills in service to the school and greater community.
To celebrate Halloweek at SJS, the Term 1 Grade 5 Leadership Club came up with a great way to celebrate spirit as well as help the community.
A Can Drive with a Twist
In the past the Junior School would host a door decorating contest amongst their classrooms, but this year the Leadership Club decided on a canned food drive instead.
“It’s a lot of work for teachers and classes to decorate the doors, and it takes a lot of supplies and makes waste,” explains Jacob, one of the students in this term’s group of leaders.
Fellow leader Eric said. “Canned food is good because kids can bring their donations in the morning with them to school.”
“Plus it helps people!” added Rivers.
“And it’s a competition, so they’ll be motivated,” explained Bruce.
Each homeroom in the Junior School was given a bin to collect non-perishable food items and canned foods throughout the week of October 27–31. But it wasn’t just about having the most donations, though that definitely would help.
The twist on their competition was that the prize would go to the homeroom who collected the heaviest donations! At the end of the week the cans were collected and weighed and Grade 1A was determined the winner with a whopping 123.5 lbs! The Junior School as a whole collected a total of 623.4 lbs donations! That is the weight of a male grizzly bear.
The Power of Leadership
Grade 5 Leadership club is a great opportunity for students at the end of their PYP journey to practice their skills and take a leadership role in their community.
“Grade 5 is an exciting time because it’s the end of their PYP journey and they’ve watched the Grade 5s before them fill this role,” explains Ms. Dilistone, Grade 4 teacher and the club’s sponsoring teacher. “It’s an opportunity for them to use the skills they’ve learned through the programme and take initiative.”
When asked why they joined the Leadership Club, all of the students had similar motivations.
“I wanted to plan the events!” said Jasmine. Everyone agreed.
And leadership doesn’t stop there. As co-curriculars are term-based, another set of Grade 5 leaders will be taking over in Term 2 and this group will move onto new challenges, bringing with them the skills and experience they gained in this club.
