For Immediate Release -  December 11, 2023 

International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme students from Bishop Macdonell Catholic High School have provided a prosthetic leg to a person in need, following a successful We Help Two Socks for Legs campaign.

Over the past month, IB students Madeline Marks, Maddie Rossit, Mhairi Milne, Adriana Richards and Christina Morrison sold over 100 funky socks for their Creativity-Activity-Service (CAS) project. CAS, unique to IB, sees students take part in a range of experiences involving real, purposeful activities, with significant outcomes, personal challenge, thoughtful consideration, such as planning, reviewing progress, reporting and reflection on outcomes and personal learning.

“Part of the IB Diploma Programme requires students to volunteer their time outside of class to complete a CAS project,” explained Heather Perigo, Language Department Head & IB Language and Literature Teacher at Bishop Macdonell Catholic High School.

Perigo learned about We Help Two organization at an IB conference last year and felt the organizations values would inspire and empower the students.

“We liked the idea of being able support a global organization,” shared Marks. “Through this campaign we were able to help reach people not just like within our school community.”

Through the Socks for Legs program, We Help Two partners with schools to sell socks to raise funds and provide legs for amputees around the world. What makes the program unique is that for every pack of socks sold, schools will also receive a pair of socks for donation to a local organization of their choice.

To share information about the project, the students wrote announcements, made posters, prepared a booth within the school and then campaigned to connections outside of the school to sell the funky socks. Ultimately raising near $2200, which was more than required to provide a prosthetic leg to an individual in need.

“It felt really good to achieve our goal,” shared Mhairi.

In addition, unique to the We Help Two campaign, the organization will be providing 100 pairs of socks for the IB students to donate back to the local community.

“We have another group whose project is putting together packages for people experiencing homelessness here in Guelph. So we're going to donate them to help give them a little bit of a head start,” added Rossit.

While the Bishop Macdonell CHS IB project is now complete, anyone interested in operating their own Socks for Legs campaign can learn more at wehelptwo.com.

The Wellington Catholic District School Board consists of 18 elementary schools, three secondary schools and an alternative education program. We are proud to meet the educational interests of near 9,000 students in the City of Guelph and the County of Wellington.

 

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