OLDS — Money raised by Holy Trinity Catholic School Grade 6 students during a simulated ancient Greek market went to a good cause – Olds & District Special Olympics (ODSO).
The students raised $194.80 and presented it to ODSO chair Karen Mengersen and Special Olympic athlete Mark Mengersen last month.
The students raised that money during an agora, a kind of combination market, meeting place and political debating forum in ancient Greece.
The modern day Olds version of that market was held in Holy Trinity Catholic School. Students brought baking goodies and sold them.
The students learned about the agora during a unit on ancient Greece and democracy.
Karen Mengersen says the history of that fundraiser goes back a bit.
Last December, one of the students asked her if she and Mark could give a presentation about Special Olympics in the community for her leadership project.
“She wanted to have something that would help her and her fellow classmates learn how to be more respectful and how to be for people with disabilities,” Karen wrote in an email.
As a result of that presentation, the Grade 6 students decided to use the proceeds from their agora to support Olds & District Special Olympics.
Karen and Mark were among those who bought some of the goods.
Teachers guiding the students in that unit included Kyle Young and Chantale Leslie-Spinks.
Karen was asked for her reaction to the donation.
"I think it was just amazing number one, that they were able to raise that much money at a lunch hour agora market and that they decided to give it to Special Olympics,” she said. “In 45 minutes, they raised $194.80.
“And it’s amazing that they were able to raise that much. I didn’t buy that much, so a lot of people bought more than I did,” she added with a laugh.
Young said, "We’ve got good sellers in this group, right? So yeah, we were really excited.”
He said it was fun to teach the students about ancient Greece, where the initial concept of democracy was born.
“It’s really cool to see kind of the kids’ perspective and then build on that to do something good for the community, so it’s been fantastic,” he said.
Young said the agora in Holy Trinity School was a way to bring the knowledge students were gaining to life.
"We wanted to kind of simulate that, give them a day to do the agora and have that at the end of our unit, kind of as a celebration,” he said. “It was a blast. We had a great afternoon.”
