Students committed to redistributing the fruit of their efforts to underprivileged families

When Les mains de Champlain – a cooperative run entirely by students at Hélène-de-Champlain high school – established the extracurricular project L’augmentation du goût de la vie, it immediately had a major impact on the community. Thanks to their pedagogical, collective vegetable garden, the students managed among other things to donate 2,000 pounds of organic vegetables to more than 130 underprivileged families. Covering an area of 6,000 square feet, the vegetable garden has become a learning laboratory and place for sharing for 50 young students and is so successful that plans are already under way to double its size by summer 2010.

A project committed to providing access to drinking water in Nigeria

If you’ve never attended an ethical and eco-friendly fashion show, you would have been dazzled by the Défilé BLEU 2010 organized by students at Saint-Laurent high school and presented eight times last April. With the primary goal of raising awareness among young people of water related issues, the spectacular event offered the some 2,750 spectators who attended one of the eight presentations a series of 12 tableaux showing just how fragile this resource is. Requiring six months of preparation and the commitment of 300 students, the fashion show was also a fund-raiser for a project to provide access to drinking water in Nigeria.

A project committed to promoting the benefits of physical activity through a running challenge

Climbing the equivalent of seven times Mount Everest, that is to say 61,240 metres, in only two and a half hours is a feat that might seem colossal but this was nonetheless what students at Pointe-aux-Trembles high school accomplished at the beginning of February 2010. As part of the Altitude challenge, every day for five days 400 participants embarked on a wild 30-minute race up and down the school stairs. This was how, thanks to an original yet simple idea, the students chose to promote physical activity while creating a rallying event at their school.

A project committed to giving third-world children the right to education and freedom

Once in a while an event will trigger something off, turn our lives upside down and prompt us to make a wonderful gesture. For Caroline Arbour, a Secondary 5 student at the École d’éducation internationale in McMasterville, it was the Millennium Summit held in April 2009 where she attended a talk given by Craig Kielburger, founder of the Free the Children organization. Inspired by his words, she decided to in turn make a tangible gesture and organize a huge fund-raiser. Thanks to her project “24 Hours of Silence,” Caroline and her friends raised more than $16,000 to help children in Sierra Leone and Haiti.

A student coffee shop project committed to enabling students to take part in an entrepreneurial venture

“Build it and they will come,” said the little voice in Kevin Costner’s head in the movie Field of Dreams. And this is probably what the students at Antoine-de-St-Exupéry high school heard when they set up their own student coffee shop called L’Entre-2. In operation for five years, the coffee shop serves some 900 customers a week, stages thematic events and, more importantly, has helped create a strong feeling of belonging within the school community. An example of how a dream can become a success story!

A project committed to enabling young people to take part in humanitarian aid trips to Ecuador

An increasing number of high schools are setting up humanitarian aid trips as a means of enabling students to witness firsthand the everyday realities of other nations around the world. This was the case at Augustin-Norbert-Morin high school, where teacher Véronique Corbeil wished to enable her students to partake in an experience of this kind. The only difference this time however was that, instead of taking students from the regular program, she made the trip with a group of special needs students. The major undertaking took place from October 22 to 30 and has had a huge impact on these young people.