But today, that will change. The school has won the inaugural Dunedin Youth Council Youth Ambition Awards, meaning it will receive $600 to help bring to fruition its ambitions to create an orchard and a large vegetable garden on school grounds.
Enviro Group teacher Heike Cebulla-Elder said inspiration for the school’s Enviro Group project came from an existing apple tree on school grounds, from which pupils took apples.
"We want to have things that are accessible, like pears, peaches, apricots, feijoa. We want to have a range of trees that they can take from."
She said the school planned to use the $600 Youth Ambition Award to buy more tools, fruit trees and vegetables.
"We are super proud. We need every little bit of funding we can get, because it is tricky fundraising for projects like this."
Ms Cebulla-Elder said a third of the produce from the garden and the fruit trees would go to the school canteen, a third would be available for the pupils to take, and a third would be given to charities such as food banks.
"The good thing is, we’re not just growing it to learn how to grow things, we’re doing something with it, like learning how to make a really healthy meal and change our eating habits."
The award will be presented by Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull and Dunedin Youth Council representatives at a school assembly today.
Columba College pupil Millie O’Neill was runner-up in the awards, and received $400 for her project involving the creation of a club that discusses, analyses and debates different elements that make a society — from politics to sociology and more.
Her aim is to get speakers to educate youth, as well as organise events to raise awareness about human rights, what is needed for a functioning society and empowering youth to make a difference.
The Youth Ambition Award initiative was designed to help open the necessary doors to enable pupils to become more involved in their school and allow them to be the change-makers they really want to be.
Applications needed to have a school focus and be beneficial for pupils, but the awards were intentionally as open as possible.
Whether it be educational, cultural, sporting or community, the focus was on providing an opportunity for pupils to highlight a passion and to reward their ambition.
