On Tuesday, December 10th, seniors from the New Horizon’s Centre in Martensville were invited to Venture Heights Elementary School for a chance to take a sneak peek at the Grade 5-8 dress rehearsal of ‘Madagascar’.
Prior to the performance, the seniors had a chance to enjoy some tea/coffee and cookies in the library while students from Grade 1 read them stories, or in some cases, the seniors had a chance to read a story to a student.
The idea behind this came from a group of students called the Connections Team, which is a Student Reconciliation Team. This group hosted the seniors and provided a warm welcome to the school, as well as a steady offering of a fresh cup of coffee and tea. “These students are working on building community and showing that we appreciate our seniors,” VHS Home Ec. Teacher, Julie Kobussen, explained.
This is the first time the school has invited the local seniors group to attend a performance at the school, and Kobussen noted that, “Through reconciliation, we have been talking about First Nations way of knowing different world views and how in many cultures, seniors are valued more. We wanted to invite them into the school in some way and thought that this would be a great first step. The students have been very excited about today, as have I and I am really proud of them for getting involved in community.”