Jun. 01, 2020
William Roper Hull School is a thriving school community serving wonderful, talented, and thoughtful students of all grades who experience significant emotional and behavioural challenges. Room 5 is a junior high classroom at William Roper Hull School. The students are also proud 'parents' of two koala bears, whose lives Room 5 helped save through hard work and generosity.
In early January, Room 5 students embarked on an ambitious goal to raise $300 to support wildlife endangered by the devastating wildfires in Australia. The wildfires began after a prolonged drought, ravaging the country and wiping out nearly half a billion animals. The students of Room 5 began learning about the power of giving back to not only their direct community, but also global communities in need. It was part of a social emotional learning unit to develop empathy for others and a sense of belonging and connectedness to a greater world.
The success of our first popcorn sale ignited a fire in the students to continue to pursue our goal. As motivation, Principal Joe Sturgeon agreed to be “slimed” in front of the school if Room 5 raised $300. We more than doubled our original goal with a combination of wildly successful popcorn and bake sales, Valentine's Day candy grams, fun pizza lunches, and bottle drives on the Hull Services campus. Our students were determined and dedicated in the preparation, planning and execution of all the fundraising efforts.
After seeing the devastating impact on the wildlife in Australia, Room 5 students knew they wanted to allocate the money raised to saving the lives of injured animals. With the earnings, our students were able to adopt two Koala bears, Anwen and Paul, playing an instrumental role in funding their recoveries. The remainder of the money was donated directly to the Koala Hospital, where Anwen and Paul, among many others, receive care for their injuries. The Koala Hospital is using the remainder of our donated funds to provide animal drinking stations to areas throughout the country affected by the fires, as well as planting new trees for the Koala habitat.
In the end, Room 5 students were able to recognize the importance of helping others around the world and felt a genuine sense of accomplishment, knowing that their hard work was saving the lives of animals in need.
At William Roper Hull, we are incredibly proud of our resilient and considerate students, each and every day. Out students have overcome great challenges in their lives, yet their selfless focus on making the world around them a better place is an inspiration to us all.
