Vanscoy students kick-off World Education Games
Sunday, 24 March 2013 | 
Author 
Vanscoy School kicked off preparations for the World Education Games last Friday with a visit from the provinicial Minister of Education, Hon. Russ Marchuk.
Two pupils from the school were selected as student ambassadors to the Games, a global online competition that encourages students to hone their skills in mathematics, literacy and science. Braden Rein and Josh Kemp earned the title of student ambassadors after creating prize-winning videos in a contest.
Rein and Kemp participated in a student ambassador tour in early February to Alberta, where they were awarded certificates of acheivement and took part in activities in several schools.
“It was an amazing experience,” Rein told the school assembly during the kickoff to the World Education Games ceremony in the school’s gym. “We met Laurie Skreslet, the first Canadian to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest, and he gave a speech that inspired us all. It’s something I’ll never forget as long as I live.”
The World Education Games start on World Literacy Day March 5, followed by World Math Day on March 6 and World Science Day on March 7. Vanscoy School became involved in the World Education Games four years ago through the school’s use of the ‘Mathletics’ online math program. Mathletics was created by 3P Learning, an Australian-based company that also created “Spellodrome’ and ‘IntoScience’ – learning resources that promote literacy and science. The school is combining its involvement with the World Education Games with a parallel campaign to promote literacy, math and science in less-developed countries.
Rein said the school is collecting funds for the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) ‘School in a Box’ program – which provides packages of educational materials for classes of up to 40 students in developing countries.
After being chosen as student ambassadors, Rein and Kemp wrote a letter to the provincial education minister, extending an invitation to attend the formal kickoff for the event.
Marchuk accepted the invitation and said he was overwhelmed with what he saw at the school: “From the minute I walked into the school, I was very impressed with what I saw in every classroom,” said Marchuk. “This is a very warm and exciting learning environment. I saw first-hand the activity you folks are engaged in and being part of this worldwide opportunity shows how engaged the students, teachers, staff and community are in education.”
Kevin Derdall, principal of Vans-coy School, said having the school recognized as a “featured school” for western Canada in the World Education Games is rewarding.
“The students and teachers have worked very hard on these initiatives,” said Derdall. “It’s not only a good program to help improve students’ skill levels, it’s also a way of reaching out to students in less-developed areas of the world. The students here are organizing a penny collection campaign to raise funds for the Unicef ‘School in a Box’ program.”
Derdall said while the students will be competing online with millions of others around the world during the three-day World Education Games event, there will also be local prizes given at the school for participation within each class.
“We want to encourage everyone’s involvement,” he said.
Larry Pavloff, chair of the Prairie Spirit School Division (PSSD) Board of Trustees, said the school division encourages all types of programs that promote student and community engagement in learning. “This is a very worthwhile program,” Pavloff noted. “To see the level of involvement among students in their community and the world makes us proud. The staff have done a superior job working with the students and I think it’s also a reflection of the involvement of the community and the families as well.”
Pavloff said all the schools in the division are engaged in many different programs but all of them are designed to accomplish the same objectives.
Rene Burke, CEO of 3P Learning Canada, based in Calgary, said Vanscoy School has employed the ‘Mathletics’ program for the past four years. “All 160 kids in the school are using it,” she said. “They’ve shown great improvement in their math skills and we’re honoured to have this school as our featured school to represent western Canada.”
(courtesy of Clark’s Crossing Gazette : http://www.ccgazette.ca/wp/?p=932)
Comments Closed
Well done everybody!
Wow WEG was incredible, I am sure that everybody agrees with me. In school we really enjoyed it.
I just want to say well done to everybody who participated, even if you did not win anything you did your best, that is the important thing.
Well done!
From Carmen
Guatemala WEG 2013 Ambassador.
Comments Closed
From the World Education Games #1 fan!
World Education Games are GREAT. I love to compete… it’s exciting. If they could just last forever…
In school, only 5th and 6th graders use Mathletics, but, with the World Education Games coming, teachers asked for 1st to 4th graders to participate. All students in my school had fun. I love World Education Games. Go WEG, go!
Comments Closed
Congratulations from Panayioti
Hey everyone,
As the 2013 WEG have come to an end, I’d like to congratulate all of you who participated in this year’s events. I had an extremely enjoyable and fun time and I’m sure the other 6 million students around the world did too! For everyone who was on the Hall of Fame for Literacy, Maths or Science across all age groups, I commend you for your efforts for doing so well. For those that didn’t make it, it really doesn’t matter because it’s all about learning and having LOADS of fun which I’m 100% sure that you did. And there’s always next year!
On Tuesday the 26th March, top ranked students from around the world will get the opportunity to come to my hometown here in Sydney, Australia at the Opera House to receive awards as part of the WEG Ceremony for 2013. I will be there that day and am really excited to be meeting my fellow competitors and other students from all parts of the world, whether it be Malaysia, Pakistan, England, USA and so on. WEG this year has certainly united the world in words, numbers and science and I’m proud to have been a part of it.
As my Ambassador role closes, I’d like to thank Samsung and 3P Learning for everything they have done for me and am very grateful for the opportunity that was given to me this year. It’s been a very memorable and enjoyable experience.
Lastly, I look forward to next year’s competition and I hope you can all join me too.
Comments Closed
WEG2013 was GREAT! I was the Official Photographer, and I finally made it to the Hall of Fame!
Hello!
My name is Anaisabel Garza and I am a 12 year old girl from Guatemala, studying at Colegio Internacional Montessori.
Last year, I went to Nashville, Tennessee as an exchange student where I learnt to love photography and even took part in a photography competition! My competition entry got an honourable mention and due to this my school asked me if I would like to be the official photographer during World Education Games 2013 along with another student, Ximena Rivera from Grade 5.
We took more than 2,550 pictures during the warm-up and the events. We made a great team!
This was my third year participating in World Maths Day, and I really wanted to make it into the Hall of Fame. I had such a great time practising for World Maths Day and all my persistence and determination paid off! I made it into the Hall of Fame and achieved my goal!
I want to invite all students in the world to keep practising, dreaming, and doing everything they love! With enough determination everyone can achieve their dreams and goals!!
Good luck to all!
Anaisabel Garza
Comments Closed
Thanks for WEG2013 everyone, from Anand in Australia!
I hope all of you had loads of fun playing the World Education Games. I know that my friends and other fellow students at Trinity really enjoyed participating in the WEG. Congratulations to everyone who participated and to those who made it to the hall of fame.
I would also like to convey my special thanks to 3P Learning and Samsung for giving this unique opportunity to so many students around the world to participate in WEG and have fun learning.
I hope to see all of you competing again in the coming years.
Anand, WEG2013 Australian Ambassador.
Comments Closed
Australian Mathlete challenges Queensland Education Minister to a MATHS DUEL!
A 14 year old All Hallows’ School student has gone up against Queensland Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek in a live maths challenge to promote digital education and raise funds for charity.
Minister Langbroek congratulated Queensland World Education Games Ambassador Georgia Hurst on her performance during the three, one-minute maths challenges on duelling computers in the Minister’s Office.
“Well done to Georgia who tied with me in the second round,” Minister Langbroek said. “I admit that I practiced before the challenge to avoid getting beaten by a teenager. I thank Georgia for joining me in the challenge and congratulate her for being such an excellent Queensland ambassador for the World Education Games.”
“In this technological age, a quality maths education is so important as it develops students problem solving skills and prepares them for successful careers in science, engineering and information technology. It is always wonderful to see students like Georgia embracing opportunities like this to learn and expand their mathematical minds.”
The Minister used his iPad and Georgia brought her laptop to the challenge. The results were:
- Level 2 – Minister 35 def. Georgia 29
- Level 3 – Minister tied Georgia 34 all
- Level 4 – Minister 28 def. Georgia 25
The pair discussed politics and joked with each other during the friendly game. Georgia, who also represents the State in water polo, wants to be a politician or a political advisor when she grows up.
She said she enjoyed the challenge as it helped her in her role to promote the World Education Games, an annual competition which ran this month and continues to raise money for UNICEF School in a Box Program.
The winners of this year’s Games are currently being verified and invited to an awards ceremony at the Sydney Opera House on March 26.
“The Games are not-for-profit and have become a significant fundraising event,” Georgia said. “In 2012 participating schools donated over US$100,000 to UNICEF. This meant 400 School-in-a-Box kits helped 32,000 children. Our target for 2013 is to raise enough money to buy 1000 School-in-a-Box kits, so we can help more than 80,000 children.”
Click here for more information around the UNICEF “School in a Box” Project.
Comments Closed
The World Education Games 2013 is over now.
The World Education Games 2013 is over now. It was the most exciting, heart-pumping 96 hours of my year so far. I finished all the 3 games successfully and kept checking the Hall of Fame to see where I stood against other people in the world. From the School Hall of Fame, I also kept a record of how my school friends were doing on each game and took note of those who had not completed the Games, so I could remind them to finish.
I felt a little upset but still hopeful each time I saw my rank in the world slide… However, I am still glad that in the end, I achieved around the 20s for Literacy and Science and 40th for Maths. Already, I feel excited and can’t wait for WEG 2014.
I also feel even sadder that for the first time in 3 consecutive years, my school ends up empty handed without any classroom trophies or medals. But we are not giving up, we will be back stronger and achieve better results next year!
I see some familiar names in the Hall of Fame, and I really salute those people who have maintained themselves in the top ten for all these years. Well done, guys!!
Last but not least, I would like to thank Samsung for the Galaxy Note! Ms. Melanie Waugh, Regional Manager of 3P Learning in Singapore, came to our school several weeks ago and to my surprise, she presented the Galaxy Note 10.1 to me. It was one of the best gifts ever. That night, I downloaded all 3 World Education Games applications right away so I could play from this cool gadget.
Now, it’s time that we go back to the “School-in-a-box” program. Spread your love and let’s make a change to the lives of those less privileged children!
Sincerely,
Jovanka Vienna Svenvie
Ambassador of Indonesia
Comments Closed
See you on Mathletics!
I can’t believe I have to say good bye to all of you for a whole year! I hope you enjoyed the Games as much as I did. I just want to congratulate oll of my fellow Mathletes for such a phenomenal competition. Though the results are not yet final (the suspense has been killing me), I’m sure my school, and all of those in the US for that matter, did spectacularly.
Although this is bye for now, you must remember that you can always keep on playing Mathletics, and enjoy competing with your friends. Also it is great practice for next year! Don’t just keep competing, keep donating too! My small school was able to give to the “School and the Box” program, just by the various students saving up their pennies. You can do your part by keeping a little piggy bank (mine is a cat, but you get the idea) by your bed, and just checking your pockets for spare change.
I would like to thank a few people: Peter Walters, for making these thrilling Games possible, Scott Flansburg, for being such a huge advocate of the games, Dr. Honor, my principle, who allowed my school to devote the day to competing, Mrs. Selwanes, my math teacher, who found out about the games in the first place, Valerie Allevi, for helping me through my Ambassador duties, and SAMSUNG, for the new Note 10.1! It has been a huge honor to represent you, the students of my country, in these Games, and I look forward to competing with you next year!
Ambassador Ben
Comments Closed
It’s all over from Ellen, UK Ambassador
It’s Over!
Phew! What a competition! Everyone has worked themselves to the limit! I’ve had so much fun during my role as an ambassador- writing my blogs, meeting the other UK ambassadors and the Human Calculator in Bristol, radio interviews, fundraising for UNICEF, encouraging my friends to have fun in the World Education Games and taking part. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t win anything just as long as you tried your best and had fun!
E.E.E., over and out.
(Extremely Excited Ellen)
Comments Closed