THE DRAGON'S PEN
/WELCOME TO DECEMBER AT KING GEORGE!
by Henry MacDougall
(click images to enlarge)
This issue of The Dragons Pen will go over important dates in December, plans for the Interact Club winter clothing drive, and some student opinions on KG’s free school lunch program.
DATES OF NOTE IN DECEMBER
Parent – Teacher Conferences: There will be online parent-teacher conferences on Thursday, December 5. Students will be dismissed earlier on this day, at 2:05 p.m.
Collab Day: Friday, December 6 will be a collaborative day, meaning that school will begin later than usual at 10:10 a.m.
Winter Break Dates: This year, winter break will be starting on Monday, December 23. Students will return to class on Monday, January 5.
Yearly Interact Clothing Drive: KG’s Interact Club began organizing their yearly Park Ranger-partnered clothing drive this November, starting the planning process of advertising and sourcing winter clothing.
a great CLOThing donation for those in need: Some warm socks.
ABOUT THAT CLOTHING DRIVE
For some backstory on the clothing drive, I interviewed Steve Anderson, a Vancouver Park Ranger, Rotary Club member, and one of the main driving forces that got the clothing drive rolling. Thanks to Ron Suzuki for helping to get us in contact with each other.
Here’s the full interview:
The West End Journal (TWEJ): What inspired the idea of the clothing drive?
Steve: The clothing drive came about three years ago when Rotary Interactors at King George Secondary School were looking for community engagement opportunities. Recognizing the challenging issue of homelessness in our community, Vancouver Sunrise Rotary Youth Mentor Ron Suzuki reached out to me to see if rangers could help with getting warm clothing to unhoused people in Vancouver’s parks.
The King George Interactors subsequently conducted a warm clothing drive where they gathered new socks, toques, gloves, scarves, and other warm clothing items. As a result, Vancouver Park Rangers were able to provide warm clothing items to numerous unhoused people in Downtown and Downtown Eastside parks who were suffering the effects of cold and wet winter weather. The result for Vancouver Park Rangers was to build compassion into our daily work with the unhoused while building relationships with them in easing some of their daily discomfort. The efforts made by the King George Interactors have directly benefited many of the most marginalized people in our parks and community.
TWEJ: What is the best way that a community member can help support the effort?
Steve: Community members can donate new warm winter clothing items (socks, toques, scarves, and gloves/mittens are best) or money, by which the King George Interactors can purchase the supplies as best needed and apportioned.
TWEJ: I've heard that the winter clothing drive at KG has inspired school clubs elsewhere to do similar clothing drives. How did this start?
Steve: University Hill has been involved for the past two years and this year Britannia Secondary School students are also joining the effort.
TWEJ: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Steve: I have great appreciation for the efforts of the King George Interactors and University Hill Interactors and look forward to the involvement of the Britannia Interactors. It is inspiring to see and support youth showing compassion and making a difference in their communities!
MIDTERM REPORT CARDS
The section in MyEd where all recent report cards can be found and downloaded.
Midterm report cards were published on Friday, November 22. If you haven’t already, you’ll be able to find your report card in MyEd as usual, under the section labelled “Published Reports.”
As always, if you’re experiencing trouble with the MyEd portal, you can reach out to the KG office by phone between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. for guidance. The KG office’s phone number is 604-713-8999.
STUDENT COUNCIL EVENTS
Last month the King George Student Council continued their yearly Canley Cup campaign to collect donations of non-perishable food and money to donate to the Greater Vancouver food bank. The class with the most donations got a pizza party! This fundraiser went through the entire month of November.
The student council also conducted a bake sale fundraiser from November 26 to 29, featuring a surprisingly affordable menu.
A menu for the Student Council bake sale / Photo from @kgstuco on instagram
STUDENT OPINIONS ON SCHOOL LUNCHES
Since a gas leak in 2019 rendered KG’s cafeteria kitchen unusable, KG students have been served externally prepared, reheated lunches from the cafeteria.
KG does not deal directly with the company that prepares the meals, rather working with Food Services at the VSB. Meals are delivered to the school each day by the VSB.
Interesting to note, at this point in 2024, no students presently attending KG would have experienced the old hot lunch program.
So what do KG students have to say about their current lunch program?
I interviewed two of my fellow KG students, Jamie and Hugo, to find out.
TWEJ: How long have you been getting the school lunches?
Jamie: Around a year I would say, for the better part of the school year.
TWEJ: And what is the process to getting the school lunches. Do you need to sign up for it?
Grade 11s Hugo (Left) and Jamie (RIGHT) who shared their opinions on KG’s school lunches.
Jamie: Yes, you sign up, then usually you wait a week, and then they give you the card. It does take a while.
TWEJ: Oh, okay. And you need to show the card to the person every time you want to get lunch?
Jamie: Exactly. If you forget the card then you’re dunzo. You have to wait for extras, which there rarely are.
TWEJ: Interesting. And what is your favourite meal that you’ve gotten from the lunch program?
Jamie: The pizza is very good.
TWEJ: And your least favourite?
Jamie: It’s gotta be... It’s gotta be the Slop. Scrambled eggs. With this green bean, pie kind of filling that they put in it.
TWEJ: So on average, how would you rate the lunches here out of 10?
Jamie: I would say like six out of 10 because, you know, they’re free. It’s free food.
TWEJ: I’ve heard people complaining about the lunches not being too nutritious, would you agree? If so, in what area could the lunches be more nutritious?
Jamie: I definitely believe that, yes. I think that they could put more vegetables in their food, because if I look at this lunch right here, there’s pretty much no veggies at all. Just meat and simple carbs which aren't very nutritious in itself.
TWEJ: So if you were given the opportunity to change one thing about the lunch program at this school, would it be the amount of vegetables? Or would you change something different?
Jamie: No. I think that they should remove the really horrible lunches that they know nobody eats. There’s literally piles of them that get wasted. And it’s just money going down the drain. I think that they should just reinvest, maybe take a review of their menu and try to amp some stuff up.
TWEJ: And what about you, Hugo? How would you rate the lunches out of 10?
Hugo: Five out of 10, they’re okay, I mean they’re not that good but at the end of the day it’s free, you can’t even complain.
TWEJ: So if you could improve one thing about the school lunches, what would it be?
Hugo: I would say larger portions, I’m too hungry every time I eat from here.
Thanks to Mr. Evans for some background information on the school lunch program system.
Thanks for reading and have a great December, KG!
