Three students from Altario School were the top finishers at a very competitive Inclusivity Project adjudication and donated their prize back to its cause.
    Prairie Land School Division has hosted the Inclusively Project for the last three years. This year’s project encouraged students to make an impact and expand their activism to a variety of issues such as social, environmental, inclusion or civic issues. This year the prize was a 10 day trip to Roatan to volunteer working with youth.
    This year there were four excellent finalists from students Altario, JC Charyk School in Hanna, Consort, and Delia. On Tuesday, December 16 the final judging was held at Consort School.
    Altario students Haley Beier, Pyper Mcgregor, and Joseph Van Lagen presented their project: ALS Awareness. This initiative quickly grew to gain the support of the Altario High School and Altario community raising money for ALS research, dedicated to Kari Evans, former Educational Assistant, and Librarian at Altario School.
    Through a month of educating the community about ALS and fundraising endeavours such as a bottle drive, an online Facebook Auction, and a community supper, the students raised well over $24,000 to donate to ALS research.
    The ALS Awareness Project delivered by students from Altario School was the winner of Prairie Land’s 2019 Inclusivity Project. In lieu of accepting the Grand Prize of a 10 day trip to Roatan, Honduras, the Altario team has requested the cash equivalent be donated back into ALS research.
     Delia students Jensen Battle and Sonya Nielsen, with Liam McKeage from JC Charyk in Hanna, presented their project: Challenging Misconceptions about Indigenous People. For this project, the students visited the Piikani reserve in Southern Alberta and then invited representatives from Piikani to come to speak to students in Hanna about what their lives are like. The three visiting students and their counsellor shared eye-opening stories, followed by traditional costumes and dances.
    JC Charyk students Cori Halter and Lauren Watson presented their project: Let’s Speak PTSD. This project reached out to servicemen and women, first responders and others who are living with the effects of PTSD. A day of presentations and open conversations educated the students and live Facebook audience about PTSD. The project also facilitated connections between those affected by PTSD and provided an opportunity to reach out to others and seek support.
    Consort students Rebecca and Shantell Maron presented their project:  A Colourful Community. This project included a public artist fair, where local artists were able to display and showcase their work. The projects shared the therapeutic benefits of art as supporting positive mental health and raised money through an admission fee and a concession. The profits of $661 were donated to the Consort Pool. Throughout the course of the project, the girls also painted a very impressive mural in Consort School.