Bert Church High School students and teachers will meet each other outside of the classroom this week.
The school’s Students For Change group is hosting a charity hockey game, dubbed the Bert Church Classic, April 8 at the Ron Ebbesen Arena.
The game will have a students-against-teachers format, with the teachers’ lineup being bolstered by several RCMP officers, and the money raised will be sent to the Free The Children organization and put towards building a school in Sierra Leone, Africa.
“We were brainstorming ideas and come up with this,” said Derek Harasiuk, a member of Students For Change.
“In the past, we’ve done charity concerts, but we wanted to try something new. It’s a Canadian favourite, so we thought it couldn’t fail. We did some research on Free the Children and found out that they were a pretty good organization started by kids. We thought that was pretty cool.”
The Western African nation of Sierra Leone has about six million people, but two-thirds of the adult population is illiterate. The country was mired in a Civil War from 1991 to 2002, which left more than 50,000 dead and 2.5 million people displaced from their homes.
“We chose Sierra Leone because it is one of the most devastated regions,” Harasiuk said.
“There are about 33 million children in that region of Africa who don’t go to school, so we registered and now we’re just raising money at the charity event. We hope the city can come join us for a great time and support this great cause.”
Eighteen students and 15 teachers/RCMP officers will take the ice, with the expectation that a large number of Bert Church’s student population will attend.
“We had a pretty big list of people signed up and actually had to create a waiting list for students; they are pretty stoked for it,” Harasiuk said.
“There has been lots of talk about it and there is a definite interest at the school. We have posters and a Facebook group, where the members’ list is always growing, so we’re pretty happy about that.”
Admission to the game, which begins at 3:15 p.m., April 8, is $3. There will be a silent auction, featuring items donated by a variety of Airdrie businesses, held in the main foyer of the Ron Ebbesen Arena.
