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Essex District High School wins $100k from Aviva Community Fund

After almost three years without bleachers, fans will again have somewhere to sit for Essex District High School football games, track and field meets and soccer matches.

The school is a Big Winner of the Aviva Community Fund, receiving $100,000 to construct a new grandstand.

"We've been working on raising funds for our bleachers for a couple of years now," said Mike Hawkins, principal at EDHS. The bleachers were deemed unsafe and were taken down in 2016. The school was rebuilt in 2014.

The fund application says teachers "kissed cows" and raced around the track on scooters as unusual fundraisers, along with hat days and special events. On its own, the school raised $35,000.

Hawkins said teacher Lindsay Drozdz was instrumental in moving the application forward.

"We had to talk about how the project would be utilized by community members," said Drozdz.

For its tenth anniversary, The Aviva Community Fund earmarked $1 million for projects that would create meaningful community change.

And according to Hawkins, it took the whole community to win.

"We had quite an extensive campaign that involved our students and parents here at Essex as well as our feeder schools," said Hawkins.

EDHS
EDHS

Students from leadership classes attended community events and hockey games, and the Essex Business Improvement Association held a street party to attract support.

"We were up near the top because we had a lot of support from not only our school community but the entire county," said Hawkins, adding other area schools also held campaigns to get votes

According to Drozdz, it was the grade twelve students who did most of the leg work.

"They were out canvassing for votes, making videos to share on social media, really taking it into their own hands. They really wanted to get these grandstands. This project showed them how they can make a difference in their community."

EDHS
EDHS

Drozdz also said the work of the students was one of the reasons the project was chosen by Aviva during the judging process.

"They really liked how great of a job the grade twelves did," said Drozdz. "They liked the idea of inspiring new leaders."

Now that the grant has been announced, Hawkins said they will go about looking for project bids. Their goal is to have the grandstands built by spring 2019.

"The plan is to have everything completed by May for track and soccer season."