This yuletide season is an extra-special one for Breslau Public School student Julia Bingeman, as her design was one of those selected to be turned into a winter greeting card and offered for sale to the public.
The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) and Waterloo Education Foundation Incorporated (WEFI) last week hosted a launch event in Kitchener where the young artists got the chance to show off their skills. The campaign looks to raise money for the registered charitable foundation.
“Through events like this, this wonderful fundraising event, we’re able to do a lot of good work for those students in our system that we support,” said Matthew Gerard, the school board’s superintendent of business services and treasurer. “The proceeds go towards things like reference programs, supporting field trips, supporting technology, all of those things are great items that happen through generous donations through fundraisers like this.”
Other initiatives WEFI aims to support include school nutrition programs, multi-lingual and multi-cultural resources for English Language Learners, and anti-bullying programs.
Students submitted their designs through social media including Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #Art4WEFI. After launching the campaign event, the board received hundreds of applications from students with greeting card designs. The original plan was to choose six cards, but due to the overwhelming interest from the community, that number was increased to 12.
One of the winners was Bingeman, a Grade 6 student at Breslau PS.
“I was inspired to do this artwork because I love winter scenes,” said Bingeman. “It’s really cool to see what your mind can come up with. I was pretty blown away when I found out I was one of the 12 winners.”
Her artwork features two raccoons with a wintery background and uses a mix of watercolour and pastel mediums. Her teacher let her know about the WEFI campaign, and she completed the project in two days.
“My teacher, Ms. White, showed us a bunch of different graphics,” said Bingeman if coming up with a subject matter. “And I looked at the one with the raccoon and was inspired; I thought ‘this is the one for me to do.’ So the raccoons are pastel. The lake is pastel. The sky and snowflakes are watercolour, and the trees are also pastel.”
The greeting cards were available for purchase at the WRDSB Education Centre at 51 Ardelt Ave. in Kitchener at a cost of $10 for 12 cards.
The fundraiser is a first for the board, with the cards featuring a wide range of representation from students of all ages, from kindergarten to Grade 12. There were designs from students attending schools all across Waterloo Region, including King Edward Public School in Kitchener and Laurelwood Public School in Waterloo.
The artwork was winter-themed, with subject matters ranging from snowmen to the northern lights.
“We were just looking for a way to support our education foundation,” said Lynsey Slupeiks, communications officer at the WRDSB. “We’ve never done this before; this is our first time. So we thought this would be a great way to showcase our talented students and the art that they can produce. All of the money will go back into our schools which is also important for us.”
Given the success of this years’ event, the school board plans to continue with the campaign in the future.
“We were really happy with what we got, and we can’t wait to do it again,” said Slupeiks. “This is a little bit of a litmus test for us to see how it does, but we hope to be able to do it again and hopefully more than once a year.”
More information about WEFI can be found online.
