Students at Sun Peaks Secondary Academy gave up their ability to talk for 30 hours in support of children around the world who don’t have access to education.
Twelve students from grade seven through 12 took part in the We Are Silent initiative on Nov. 25 and 26. We Are Silent is a part of the We Day campaign, which encourages students to take action on the issues they care about at home and around the world.
Students from the Academy collected pledges around the campaign which went to Free The Children’s Adopt a Village fundraiser, which works to help children around the world to get an education.
“It was hard, but it was for a good cause. When I was doing schoolwork it was hard to ask questions,” said grade eight student Darby O’Toole.
The students remained at the school overnight, taking the vow of silence together and coming up with alternate ways to communicate, such as writing notes, typing on their computers and playing charades.
“Writing notes was really hard because you don’t get the same message across. So when they were reading the notes they were like ‘I don’t understand’ and you’re trying to get them to understand but you can’t talk,” said Korina Linder, a grade 10 student and organizer of the We Day activities in Sun Peaks.
It was the second year students at Sun Peaks participated in the silent fundraiser, after doing 24 hours of silence in 2014.
“It was hard for me at some times but I just had to remind myself that it was for a really good cause and I needed to do it because there are so many kids in the world that don’t have voices and they can’t speak up,” said grade eight student Jaida McKenzie-White.
Over 58 million children in the world are out of school, according to the We Day campaign.
The 30 hours of silence was one of many We Day initiatives the students at Sun Peaks will partake this academic year. By taking part in these events, the students earn a ticket to the We Day event in Vancouver in October.
“I’ve been five times and I just love We Day. This year I’m the (Sun Peaks) organizer of We Day so I organize all the events and I just love all of them they’re so much fun to do,” Linder said.
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