SNOW, AN EARTHQUAKE, AND A SOCK & TOQUE DRIVE!

by Henry MacDougall
(click images to enlarge)

Welcome to March at King George! This issue of The Dragon’s Pen will go over some important upcoming dates, an earthquake at KG, a successful clothing drive from the Interact Club, and more!

IMPORTANT DATES IN MARCH

Interim Report Cards: Interim report cards will be published on March 7. As always, Interim report cards will not include a mark, and will only have notes on how the student can improve. This is a great opportunity for a student to make an early improvement to their school habits to avoid stress later in the year.

Collab Day: There will be a collab block in the morning of March 7. Students should show up at 10:10 a.m. and morning classes will each be 40 minutes.

Spring Break: The last day of school before spring break will be Friday, March 14. School will start again on Monday, March 31.

LOTS OF SNOW!

Vancouver received some heavy snowfall in early February, leading to icy, slushy, and unpleasant conditions all over. Students who had anticipated a snow day the night before the big snow were shocked when met with a VSB Instagram post early in the morning on the February 4th. The post acknowledged the wintery weather and reminded students to dress for the snow, but didn’t announce a snow day. In past years, it seems as if school would have been cancelled for much less. Lots of students found it hard getting to school, with lots being late or not showing up at all.

I sent an email to our principal, Mr. Evans, asking about the continuation of school during the snow, and wondering if there had been a change in VSB policy. Mr. Evans indicated that there was no change in policy to his knowledge.

**The wood shop can be very loud when machines are running — could it be made safer in the case of an emergency?**

EARTHQUAKE!

Vancouver experienced a magnitude 4.7 earthquake that originated in Sechelt on Friday, February 21 at 1:26 p.m.

At KG, many students noticed and retreated beneath their desk for safety. However, students in the wood shop had no idea that anything had happened until an announcement about the earthquake was later put on the P.A. Although the earthquake was relatively minor, this should still raise concerns about how safe KG would be in an earthquake. Knowing that KG is one of the Vancouver schools that has still not received important seismic upgrades, a larger-scale earthquake could devastate the school. Since students in the wood shop are often working around very loud machines, maybe an emergency light or a similar warning system could be implemented. The same goes for the music room, which is often a very loud place.

SOCK & TOQUE DRIVE

The KG Interact Club once again held their winter sock and toque drive this year, aiming to collect warm clothes for Vancouver Park Rangers to distribute to unhoused people in Vancouver parks.

The fundraiser was inspired by Vancouver Park Rangers, whose job often includes dismantling the tents or structures of people sheltering or living in Vancouver parks. Often, this part of the job would leave Park Rangers feeling as if their job had a negative impact on those that they interacted with. The natural solution was to give people something that would make their day better, so as not to have only a bad impact on their situation.

In past years the clothing drive would only consist of donation boxes in hallways, but this January Interact members (Interactors, of course) took to the classrooms and held a school-wide donation competition for warm clothing and money. The class that raised the most money and clothing would receive a pizza party. On top of this, Interactors also volunteered in the foyer during lunch times to sell baked goods like jumbo muffins, two-bite brownies, and chocolate croissants. The money raised from these lunchtime bake sales goes toward the cause as well.

Park Rangers are only able to accept donations of clothing items, so Interact president and vice-president Mya and Hannah visited local shops to buy warm winter clothing with the money raised.

With donations from generous KG students, as well as a lot of help from the West End community, the Interact Club managed to raise around $1,000 worth of clothing and cash. And the winner of the competition? Mr. Wu’s Grade 8 class, which raised over $600 worth of clothing. Nice work!

On Thursday, February 20, all of the items were handed over to Park Rangers for distribution.

**Interactors alongside Rotary Club members at a recent early-morning meeting**.

PINK WHISTLE CAMPAIGN

After the successful clothing drive, members of KG’s Interact Club were invited to an early-morning meeting with the Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise. Interactors were introduced to Karn Dhillon, the founder of the Pink Whistle Campaign, a basketball-based fundraising campaign to fight cancer. In the Pink Whistle Campaign, basketball referees are invited to wear pink lanyards and whistles to help show their support for cancer research.

Over the past 16 years, Karn’s campaign has raised more than $250K for cancer research. Going into March, Interactors plan to do more lunchtime bake sales, this time to support the Pink Whistle Campaign.

If you’d like to support the Pink Whistle Campaign through KG, stay tuned, as more news on Interact’s fundraiser will be available soon!

If you would instead wish to support the Pink Whistle Campaign directly, feel free to donate here.

SPRING FLING ON MARCH 5

The KG Student Council will be hosting a spring dance on March 5 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $2. A DJ, a professional photobooth, snacks, and fun games will be included!

NATIONAL COLLEGE FAIRS PROGRAM

On Saturday May 3 there will be a college fair at the nearby Vancouver Convention Centre from 1 to 4 p.m.. This is a great opportunity for students to start considering what they want to do after high school. Institutions from all around the world will be attending, so make sure to mark your calendars!

Thanks for reading, have a great March KG!