Students at Glen Avon School have gone above and beyond the staff's expectations this holiday season. Over the past couple weeks, students collected non-perishable food items to donate to the St. Paul Food Bank and collected a whopping 6,346 pounds of food.
“You have proven yourselves to be, I believe, the most generous school in Alberta . . . maybe in Canada," said principal Debbie Thorne, to the students at Wednesday's Christmas Convoy.
Last year, the school hosted a similar event and collected 4,282 pounds of food. Staff members offered students incentives to collect as many items as possible, such as allowing students to give select staff crazy makeovers, or throwing pies in other staff members' faces.
One male instructor, Aaron Petersen, agreed to dress up as a woman while singing and dancing to the song “Barbie Girl," if students collected 3,000 pounds of food. Also, if students surpassed last year's amount, the school's administrators agreed to offer students a special surprise.
Students were treated a variety of entertainment on Wednesday after achieving each of the goals put before them. The grand finale included Thorne, assistant principals Ryan Pashko and Jackie MacDonald dressing up as Christmas characters and dancing to the popular song “Party Rock Anthem," followed by handing out a small gift to each of the students.
“You are going to make the holiday just a little bit brighter for people in need," said Thorne.