The Kids at Beaverbrook are
having a whale of a good time!

by Dawn Lee, TG co-op student

Question: What do you get when you take four hundred motivated kids and a whale in need of help?

Answer : The adopt-a-whale project. It's just one of the thousands of projects the students at Beaverbrook Elementary School in Moncton, New Brunswick, are involved in. In fact, their dedication and committment to environmental action prompted BBS broadcaster, Peter Mansbridge, to declare that "Beaverbrook School is one of the best schools in Canada" on The National just before Earth Day, 1995.

As we all know, the environment has become a very important issue in schools across Canada and around the world. This is something that Breaverbrook Elementary School realized, and their efforts won them a spot as the runner up in the "Great Canadian School Search" which recognizes cool schools in Canada that are environmentally active. Beaverbrook is involved in more than 1000 projects, ranging from planting trees to restoring the community pond. Not only do they focus on their own community, they also adopted whales and donated money to help protect the rain forest!

The students and teachers are now in the midst of creating a video to help motivate other schools to take action and help them clean up the earth.

According to Janet Longaphie, the teacher supporting the environmental club at Beaverbrook, "Having the children believe they can make a difference ... is the most important thing for them."