Lifeskills students at Dunsmuir middle school are getting a double dose of winning.
The class is receiving a second $1,000 prize from Victoria Bottle Depot on Glanford Avenue.
It’s the first time the school has won the prize.
“It’s absolutely exciting. It motivates our students and teaches them the importance of recycling,” said principal Yushi Wallace. “This gives them purpose, responsibility and ownership of the school.”
For the 2012-2013 school year the school won first place in the Encorp B.C. High School Recycling Program. Throughout the year the school sent its bottle depot receipts and reports on the recycling efforts of the school as part of the contest’s stipulations.
At the end of the school year Encorp gave the school a $1000 cheque and now the Victoria Bottle Depot is matching the donation.
Students voted to use the winnings to help build Christmas food hampers for West Shore families, purchase more recycling bins for the school and still have a few hundred dollars left.
“The kids will vote on what they want to spend it on. It might be to go on a special field trip,” said Lifeskills teacher Erin Larson, adding they may also want to donate some of it to another charity.
The Lifeskills students spend two days a week collecting recyclable beverage containers from all the classrooms and then one day of sorting.
The bottle refunds help cover the cost of the Lifeskills students weekly field trips.
“Our goal is to have the students be comfortable in the community after they graduate,” said Larson.