To the residents of Aspen Ridge,
We, the Grade 7/8 students of École La Prairie, have read some newspaper articles that say that many of you do not want our new school built in Aspen Ridge.
The main concern seems to be that the older kids from the high school would be bad for the neighbourhood. We are the future high school students and we feel that you are judging us unfairly. We would like to convince you that we are good kids and that our school would be a wonderful addition to your neighbourhood.
Our school is currently situated next to a nursing home and the residents love our enthusiastic entertainment at Halloween. They have never complained about our behaviour or noise. In fact, they appreciate the time we spend cleaning up the school grounds. Twice a year, we have a school-wide cleanup day. The only litter we have to pick up comes from the neighbourhood itself, since we are not allowed to bring any food outside that has a wrapper.
We have held fundraisers to help children in Nicaragua. We have also raised money to help families who need help within our school division and our school. We bring toys and food for the food bank at Christmas. We are a welcoming school and we make new kids feel welcome.
It may be hard for some people to believe but there is not one person in our whole school who drinks or smokes or takes drugs. Our school is divided into eight ‘families’ and the older students in each group take care of the little kids and the little kids look up to the older kids. This might be the reason that we are careful not to behave in any negative ways, since we don’t want to be a bad influence on little kids. We want to stay together as a school community.
Thank you for reconsidering your views about the older students at our school. We hope that you will feel confident to welcome us into your neighbourhood. We will do our best to always be good members of the community.
Grade 7/8 students
École La Prairie, Red Deer