The students of Ecole Mother Teresa were awarded for their amazing effort in fund raising for the school.
On Friday, December 16 – Vice Principal Ken Meraw and Principal Jodi Smith fulfilled their promise to compete in a lip sync competition against each other after the Mother Teresa School Council and the students of Mother Teresa raised over $13,000 for their school – an amazing $9,000 more than last years total and $3,000 more then their $10,000 goal.
Smith was astonished with the efforts of the staff, students and parents of her school.
“They started out with selling booklets and wanted to get them all sold,” she said. “Then we had our dance-a-thon thinking we didn’t have $10,000 yet because historically we have only hit $4,000.”
When she found out she would have to perform she felt “panic but it was for a good cause so I overcame and started getting ready.”
Principal Smith would perform a hip-hop mash up alongside two members of her staff. Vice-Principal Meraw would perform the classic hit “Footloose” with the help of his Grade 8 students.
We practiced the dance and they said ‘you don’t worry about dancing - just worry about the singing. I was relieved by that,” he said. He added the students requested he do a knee slide like Kevin Bacon did in the “Footloose” movie however, Meraw responded to them by saying “if I go to the ground and slide on my knees - I wouldn’t be getting back up again.”
The highlight of Principal Smith’s performance was when she started tossing out fake money during a portion of song “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled.
“I had planned a little bit more then Mr. Meraw,” she said. “I was too nervous to fly by the seat of my pants. DJ Sabotage [a student at Mother Teresa] helped with my choreography.”
The more than $13,000 raised will go to support multiple initiatives throughout the school.
“It will pay for different initiatives throughout the school like field trips and guest speakers,” Meraw said. “Things our normal budget doesn’t cover.”
Smith added, “We are looking to putting some benches out front - which are expensive. We also want to put some picnic tables in the back so some kids can eat outside on warm days if they wish.”
Principal Smith expressed her gratitude for everyone involved with this fundraising initiative.
“It is an amazing school community - parents, students and staff,” she said.
reporter@sylvanlakenews.com