Local elementary school students wanted to thank their community’s firefighters for all their hard work over the summer.
One of Watson Road Elementary’s Grade 2 classes, headed by Stacy Ramdyal, was thinking about this year’s school theme of hope.
Many students pointed out that they were inspired by the hope that local firefighters brought to their lives when they were fighting this summer’s wildfires.
At first, she said the class was learning about other figures that inspired hope in their communities, including Terry Fox, Phyllis Webstad, and Jordan River Anderson among others.
“Then we started thinking about who are the helpful and hopeful heroes in our communities,” she said.
“The students were naming police officers, teachers, health care workers and firefighters. Firefighters really stuck out to them because of all the fires this past summer, it was fire prevention week, we were practicing fire drills and everyone just had a connection to someone affected by the wildfires this summer.”
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Ramdyal said she reached out to the Kelowna Fire Department’s Station 8, located in Glenmore. She said the Station 8 fire crews have mentioned how honoured they felt to first speak with the students about their jobs, and how the students appreciate them.
“I wanted to arrange a question and answer period where we can meet a firefighter, learn about their job and ask questions that they’ve been thinking about. And that turned into gratitude,” she added.
“There’s so much gratitude we want to share with these heroes and we can share that gratitude by drawing pictures, writing letters, writing them notes, and even making treats.”
Ramdyal said she reached out to a nearby Tim Hortons branch to help the class out with coffee and baked goods. The branch agreed to donate some treats for the firefighters, which they will give to the crews on Friday (Oct. 15). Besides the treats, the class will also present their Book of Gratitude, made up of the students’ artwork, notes, and letters.
She said the students were very excited about the project and were enthusiastic until they finished it.
“The kids are just so excited. They did not think that all of the pieces of this gratitude project would fall into place, so they’re very excited, proud and happy to know that they can share their gratitude with the community,” she said.
“For this school district to have so many students celebrating and sharing gratitude to the firefighters in West Kelowna, Kelowna and Lake Country, it says a lot about this community and how much support and love there is.”
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