The Swan Hills School's Division 3/4 Students' Union (SU) has been having a bang-up school year. After holding profitable fundraising events, including the Halloween Howler in October and a Christmas raffle in December, they have met some significant goals.

Their latest achievement has been buying a new vending machine for the school. The previous vending machine had broken down last year, and after multiple attempts to have it fixed, unfortunately, the SU found that it was irreparable. Having a working vending machine at the school has another purpose beyond being a convenient source of snack foods; it also helps to encourage students to stay at the school during lunch breaks. Choosing not to leave the school has resulted in fewer late students when classes start up again for the afternoon.

After setting a budget of $800, the SU was able to find a company out of Edmonton, Kingdom Vending, that was very helpful in helping them to find a great machine within their means. The only hiccup was that they needed to find a way to get their new piece of equipment back to Swan Hills. The SU would like to send a huge thank you to Scott Berry for volunteering to pick up the vending machine and bring it back to Swan Hills.

The SU has also partnered with The Grizzly cubs to purchase a water bottle filling station for the school's Junior/Senior High wing and have it installed. Previously, the school's only water bottle filling station was on the other side of the building, which was inconvenient at best. The new filling station was installed in January and is looking great.

Currently, the SU is holding a gumball contest. For $1, students can guess how many gumballs are in a jar, and the winner gets to keep the jar full of gumballs. They also plan to have a Spring Fling dance in mid to late April.

Way to go, Students' Union members! Keep up the excellent work!

Dean LaBerge, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Grizzly Gazette