Vancouver Island – Social distancing protocols arising from COVID-19 have been challenging for elementary schools, where students cannot freely intermingle in large groups or interact with community members from outside. Teachers report that many students are experiencing high levels of anxiety and are at risk of social isolation.
With this in mind, an important goal for Canadian charity PowerPlay Young Entrepreneurs has been to foster connections between the classroom and the broader community. Thanks to the support of the United Way Central & Northern Vancouver Island and the Government of Canada’s Emergency Community Support Fund, they have been able to provide students and teachers in Campbell River with a fun online workshop series linking them with volunteers with a passion for empowering youth.
PowerPlay Young Entrepreneurs offers an experiential learning project that has been very popular in Vancouver Island schools since 2006, thanks to the support of Coastal Community Credit Union. For students, connecting directly with peers and the broader community as they design and implement their own real business ventures is typically a program highlight.
“This year our young entrepreneurs are missing out on some of these rich social-emotional learning opportunities because of the pandemic,” says the charity’s Executive Director Bill Roche. “This funding enabled us to offer some highly engaging alternatives.”
“COVID-19 has impacted children and teens in our Vancouver Island communities. Social isolation and disruption to routine has caused a huge spike in mental health concerns,” said Signy Madden, Executive Director, United Way Central & Northern Vancouver Island. “We are happy to support PowerPlay Young Entrepreneurs as they work hard to shift their programs so that kids in the Campbell River area can continue to get the essential social time they need.”
Workshop participants in Mona Brennan’s and Jenny Rhodes’ grade 5 classes at École Willow Point were delighted at the chance to share their work with Coastal Community Credit Union representatives Kristin Hocking and Brittany Halicki. The two volunteers gave the group positive feedback as they presented their business pitches.
“We were really excited to be able to connect again with the students and see their creativity in action,” commented Kristin Hocking. “You could see how much they enjoyed the learning process.”
At Cedar Elementary, teacher Tina Kuschel was grateful for her students to have the opportunity to learn from community mentors, commenting that “getting insight from some new people was refreshing and highly motivating for our kids.” She also shared that the variety and pace of the virtual workshops and hands-on activities was perfect for her diverse group of learners.
“My class was highly engaged, and I loved how kind and attentive the facilitators and volunteers were with the students. The whole experience made it feel like school was almost normal again.”
Seeing the PowerPlay learning model in action with their students has inspired teachers to apply these principles to other projects. As one educator expressed, “The teacher-librarian and ourselves are brainstorming how we can continue with the PowerPlay ideas with the students after spring break. Thank you for the great introduction.”
