Central memorial high School

Central Memorial – ‘Let Us Light the Way’

‘Lux Sit’ – Greek for 'Let us Light the Way' - is the motto of Central Memorial High School, one of Calgary’s oldest schools. Central Memorial has been a part of our community since 1888 and has become a successful performing and visual arts school. Committed to fostering personal excellence in learners through excellence in teaching is a school mission that flourishes through its three-year-old Youth Volunteer Corps in Schools participation.

Group facilitators, Wilma Fisher and Kathie Coutts-Nicholls, understand the importance of youth philanthropy to their school culture. “These students have a heart and want to share it. They are looking for an outlet in which to share it. Creating a Youth Volunteer Corps group in our school and utilizing the resources of Child and Youth Friendly Calgary gave us the framework for success.”

The most successful project launched by the YVC group at Central Memorial was the Garbage Can Graffiti project created for Child and Youth Friendly Calgary’s 2004 Interschool Challenge. This clever art project addressed an in-school issue of littering and brought students together to give trash cans a look that an arts school would be proud of!

In its third year of operation, the YVC in Schools group at Central Memorial High is passionate about helping young children in Calgary. With 16 active students in the group, they take time out of their already crammed schedules to organize food drives, create school clean-up programs and round up gifts for Operation Christmas Child.

Two challenges they created for the 2005-2006 school year was to design web pages promoting their group on the Central Memorial web site, and they partnered with Student Council to launch “Wave of Relief,” a fundraiser for Tsunami relief work.

Principal Jeff Turner comments, “Our community has come to know that our school provides volunteer resources through our YVC in Schools participation. Local groups will now contact us about projects that our students may want to work on, and that's a win-win situation for everyone!".

Thank you Central Memorial, for lighting the way!

Visit Central Memorial High School website

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