North Berwick High School kicked off the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative’s (YPI) 2018/19 academic year with an impressive final delivered in front of an audience of the entire S5 year group.
Judges Roy Symon of East Lothian Rotary Club, Deputy Head Teacher Fraser McCallum and RMPS Teacher Duncan Binnie deemed the presentation by S5 pupils Hannah Bartlett, Lily Chambers, Katherine Leckie and Rachel Gleeson the most engaging and convincing in order to secure the £3000 grant.
The money will be used by Beyond Boundaries East Lothian to buy a set of float tubes to enable wheelchair users to enjoy the water.
Hannah Bartlett said:
“It is great to have secured this funding for a local charity. The YPI experience really made us feel like we could make a difference and learn about what is going on in East Lothian to support people.”
Four of the five finalist charities were focussed on supporting people living with disabilities locally.
Duncan Binnie, RMPS teacher who leads YPI at North Berwick High School, said:
“The quality of presentations was wonderful and they were all in aid of worthwhile causes. The winning team delivered a fun and uplifting presentation which captured the audience’s attention and demonstrated real commitment and personal involvement.
“It was interesting that disability charities proved so popular with the pupils – it was an issue that really seemed to resonate and there are a great many organisations doing great work in that area in East Lothian.”
YPI is active citizenship programme which empowers young people to make a difference in their communities which is managed and majority-funded in Scotland by The Wood Foundation. This is the second year North Berwick High School has taken part and last year’s winning charity was East Lothian Special Needs Playscheme.
Five schools in East Lothian take part and local young people will channel £15,000 to charities this academic year.
Students across an entire year group take part. Working in teams, they research causes they care about, charities which address that issue and the impact £3000 of funding. They then develop and deliver presentations in a bid to reach the final when one team will secure that funding for their chosen charity.