Community
20 June, 2025
Icy challenge awaits...
WHILE next Tuesday’s weather is predicted to be around 12 degrees, it will seem much colder for those who brave the ‘ice bucket challenge’ at Emmanuel College.
Students in year 7G are currently putting the finishing touches on their fundraising event, which will see classmates and some very brave teachers face a very cold bucket.
There’s sure to be plenty of laughter – and cold bodies – from around 1pm but it will be all for a good cause; with proceeds going to the students’ chosen charity, the Leila Rose Foundation.
As part of the college’s religious education curriculum, year 7 students have been busy planning a series of events, fundraisers and activations in a bid to ‘Fight for Fair.’
The college, which works to instil the values of faith, hope and love, uses the classrooms to really bring these lessons to life – where students choose their own cause and create an event to bring about change and work towards community engagement.
Emmanuel College religious education coordinator Brigid Foard said the Fight for Fair unit was a wonderful opportunity for students to branch out and bring about change while having fun.
It also exposes students to new ideas which consider human dignity and the common good.
“Each class takes ownership over their own project during RE classes and students are encouraged to make essential decisions and oversee the logistics of running the activity and fundraising themselves,” Ms Foard said.
“Many classes have broken into groups to manage their projects, just as you would see in real world examples where there might be communications, catering, logistics and fundraising teams all working towards one goal or event.
“Every year the Fight for Fair unit goes from strength to strength and we see new ideas and increased passion in students.”
This year students have planned bake sales which support drought-affected farmers, walkathons supporting cancer research, beach clean-ups, sausage sizzles and an ice bucket challenge.
“The end goal of the unit is to get students engaged in the community and to consider something bigger than self,” Ms Foard said.
Homeroom teacher of 7G, Mark Jansz, is expecting a frosty reaction to his class project as they prepare to douse volunteers in buckets of ice next Tuesday.
Class member of 7G, Lawson Chow, has the support of his classmates for the challenge as they fundraise for a cause close to Lawson’s heart, the Leila Rose Foundation.
“This foundation was created by my parents in memory of my sister who passed away from a rare childhood cancer when she was two,” Lawson said.
“I admire the work of my parents and the charity and I’m excited to bring the fundraiser to life at Emmanuel College among my peers.”
Lawson said he liked that students could do hands-on things to make a difference in their RE classes.
“We’re able to choose what we can do and we’re learning how to run an event,” he said.
“We also get to have some fun and it’s all for a good cause.
“We’ve got a good line-up of students and staff who are going to get ice tipped over them and they’ve all been happy to help – I’m looking forward to seeing Mr Jansz get covered in ice and principal, Ms McGennisken.”
The icy action will kick off at 1pm, with drinks and hot sausages in bread also available for purchase.
