Students at Alix-MAC School deserve an A for effort after winning top prize in a campaign to recruit school bus drivers in the province.
The contest drew more than 240 entries provincewide in the competition put on by the school bus industry and the Alberta government.
The students were asked use different kinds of media to promote the recruitment of bus drivers and appreciation of bus drivers in the province.
“Our students did an entire media campaign, including a video commercial, radio commercial, four posters, T-shirt and brochure,” said Sean Lougheed, assistant principal at Alix-MAC School on Thursday. “It was centred around a central theme, which was the wheels on the bus.”
The video started out with Grade 1 students singing “The wheels on the bus go round and round,” then there is a shot of the bus pulling up. At that point, one of the video creators, Royce Hepburn, read: “If we don’t have any school bus drivers, the wheels on the bus won’t go round and round. Currently Alberta has an extreme shortage of qualified school bus drivers. Talk to your local school division about being a local bus driver. Please help drive our future and get on board with us.”
Students put between 150 to 200 hours into the project over a three-week period.
As the top prize winners, the campaign’s creators — which include Grade 10 students Amanda Wilson and Miranda Bagshaw and Grade 11 students Kyle Marshall and Royce Hepburn — each received a MacBook laptop.
Speaking on Thursday, shortly after having received the prize, Hepburn said it was great to see their small community school win out over the big schools in the competition. “This is kind of new for me. It was pretty cool,” Hepburn said.
He said he has made movies in the past, but never something on this level. Despite winning top spot, Hepburn doesn’t have plans to go into advertising in the future.
Lougheed said it was a huge win for their little school.
“It was just amazing overall,” said Lougheed. “The dedication and (the students’) creativity allowed them to truly become role models for the other students in the building. It was a tremendous effort by both students and staff.”
sobrien@www.reddeeradvocate.com