Students pitch in on school work

BY NANCY KELLY

Kings County Register

Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) made volunteer history by giving thanks to the people of the province during its one-day “Reach Out to Nova Scotia” initiative.

October 17, nearly 10,000 students and 1,600 staff from campuses of the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) traded in their school books for a day to take on volunteer projects.

Students from the Kingstec campus of NSCC devoted their day of volunteerism predominantly to the Annapolis Valley Regional School Board. “We have a very strong partnership with the school board and thought it would be appropriate to further this relationship,” said Kingstec principal Don Bureaux during his stop at West Kings, where NSCC students from the electrical, construction and industrial programs were busy planting trees and shrubs.

Bureaux noted the one-day event is a “way to to thank the people of Nova Scotia who have supported the development of NSCC across the province.” As the first initiative of its kind within the education sector in Canada, Bureaux hopes it will serve as a template for future events.

Thirty schools in the AVRSB benefited from the work of 1,130 NSCC/ Kingstec volunteers October 17. Projects varied from school to school: preparation of the breakfast program for students at Coldbrook school, hosting a 10-station games event at Port Williams and health-related sessions at Dwight Ross. Eight other community groups also had NSCC volunteers pitching in. Among them were the Annapolis Valley Mountain Bike Association and the Valley Seniors Network. NSCC volunteers also conducted a beach sweep at Scotts Bay.

Bureaux explained the school board consulted its administrators to develop a list of priority projects, “and we are at sites all over the county today to carry them out. “At NSCC, community is important to us, as is stewardship. A day like today is a way for us to communicate that to Nova Scotians.”