Celebrating Campus View Elementary School’s Green Team & Earthfest

Madame Speaker, Today I would like to share an inspiring story about children at Campus View Elementary School in my riding that are making a difference in our community.

In 2011 Madame Speaker, two grade three students Reina Girvan-Randall and her friend Holly Edquist pitched an idea of creating an environmental club to their school principal — Mr. David Hovis. He thought it was a great idea. And so it all began.

The green team started small, but quickly grew, when Liv Dunsdon, Saffron Sobkin and four others signed on. By the time the green team was in grade 4, they had a vision — a vision of hosting an Earthfest at their school to coincide with Earth Day.

Thanks to the generous support of Maia Green and the Friends Uniting for Nature Society, otherwise known as the FUN Society, Reina Girvan-Randall and her team were able to launch their first Earthfest in 2012.

In 2013, Madame Speaker, Campus View’s Earthfest won a national prize – one of only 10 schools from 600 submissions to receive 25,000$ in computer equipment from Staples Canada.

This past week marked the 3^rd year that Campus View hosted its community wide Earthfest — the goal always being to have fun and create broader community environmental awareness and change.

There are now 42 students on the Green Team in grades 4 & 5, including Amira Ahmad, Ella Dunsdon and Calder Wheatley. They are coached by parent volunteers, Anita Girvan and Narda Nelson, Campus View teacher, Ladena Racine-Tran and Principal David Hovis.

Many organizations from our community participate in Earthfest including CRD Sustainable Education; Victoria Natural History Society; Capital Region Beekeepers Association, Orca Books and many more.

And what happened to those grade three girls who started this all off Madame Speaker? Well they are now in grade six at Arbutus Middle School. They’ve gone on to form another organization called VERT  — Victoria Eco-Rally Team!

Madame Speaker, we have so much to learn from the creativity and innovation displayed by the children and youth in our society. They are our future and their passion fills me with hope and optimism for a prosperous and sustainable tomorrow.