Grade 4 students from Niverville Elementary partnered up with grade 10 students from Niverville High to host their very own trashion show.

A trashion show is a fashion show, except the clothing is made out of trash.

Tannis Williams, grade 4 teacher at Niverville Elementary School, says the idea for the trashion show started when they were brainstorming ideas for their Earth Day assembly. 

“The grade 4s were extremely passionate about spreading awareness to others. They wanted to send a message that everyone needs to do their part to help protect our environment, not just on Earth Day, but every day.” 

Williams says the students wanted to use this as a platform to promote waste reduction and sustainability in a fun and fashionable way.  

She notes her class was able to team up and collaborate with Mrs. Dean's grade 10 students from Niverville High School.

“I was really impressed with how well they worked together to create the outfits and come up with the title and description,” she says. “I'm so proud of the students, our trashion show far exceeded my expectations.” 

Williams says it was nice to see the grade 10s come out of their shell and really work with the grade 4s.  

“We even had some boys decorating flowers for our spring festival dress, and they were coming up with really neat and creative ideas to make each outfit even better. Another one was when they helped our medieval knight from the tinfoily table create his bubble wrap cape.” 

The medieval knight walking down the runwayThe medieval knight walking down the runway

Hanover School Division Career Development and Life Exploration Program Coordinator, Kirby Krause, helped coordinate getting the Grade 10s and the grade 4s together with this mentorship program. 

Krause says the grade 4s got to build relationships with the grade 10s, make some powerful connections, and get meaningful feedback. 

As for the grade 10s, they were able to be mentors and share what they have learned about sustainability with kids eager to listen. 

“Both of those grade 4s and grade 10s were developing really important skills like communication,” says Krause. “And we could really see how those relationships formed by the end of this experience with hugs, taking pictures with each other, and exchanging contact information.” 

Krause says the students were very encouraging toward one another. 

“They were able to set a really great example for those grade 4s, and I think that you could see it in the grade 4s confidence how much they appreciated having their buddy there.” 

 

With files from Corny Rempel