Sa-Hali Secondary becomes first UNESCO-designated high school in BC

Students, staff, and residents were on hand to witness history at Sa-Hali Secondary this afternoon.

Sa-Hali achieved international status as the first UNESCO-designated high school in BC. It joins only two other schools in BC, and 90 in Canada, to carry the honour. Being in the UNESCO Associated School Network means Sa-Hali will have the chance to collaborate with 11,000 schools in 182 countries on key issues around the world.

Teacher-librarian Cecile McVittie led the charge in Sa-Hali's designation, noting that it wouldn't have been possible without the tireless effort of other staff members and students.

"Everybody has been very congratulatory, but this doesn't begin to recognize the work that my colleagues are doing in their classrooms, which is a huge part of how this flag came to be raised," said McVittie. "Things happening in our classrooms contribute just as much, so my job is very much to collect the evidence of the neat things that are happening all around our building that make us a truly UNESCO school."

"Without the students, this wouldn't happen. These are students who care passionately about the environment, building a peaceful culture, about reconciliation, and about a lot of the issues that make our community so fabulous. They've really stepped up, they work outside of class time, on weekends, they've reached out to their peers on other school buildings and have brought them into this work as well. Even though we're the lead school on this, UNESCO type activities are happening at KSA, at South Kam, at NorKam, at Valleyview because of the connections are students have to those other buildings."

Students involved raised the UNESCO flag on the school grounds, something McVittie mentioned felt near and dear to her heart.

"It was truly one of the most exciting moments of my career to watch that go up. It made me very teary-eyed because of the work that has gone into it, but mostly to see the work of my students recognized that way. It's just a wonderful, wonderful accomplishment for Sa-Hali Secondary."

"We've got sustainable goals to meet by 2030 and these are the young people who are likely going to solve some of the most critical issues facing our planet. We're going to continue striving to connect with other people, connect with youths around the world to make this a better planet."

Amanda To and Mitra Morgan, two students who have worked on the project since grade eight and grade 10, went on to say this feat took tons of work, but in the end, it was all worth it.

"Well we took part in many web conferences with schools all across Canada," said To. "I think at one point we were coast-to-coast-to-coast, which was really cool. We got to write white papers and collaborate with schools on things that were going on in our town with water conservations, and plastics, and got to know about what was going on in their cities."

"It feels like really amazing to see something we've worked so hard on, and so long at, finally be able to have a really big thing happen with it and be able to finally see all that have some really big impact on the school," said Morgan. "It will be something that we'll carry down to generations."

Now that they're designated a UNESCO school, the students and staff will participate in meetings to figure out their passions and where they will lead the group into the future.