Bill 115 having positive impacts

by Sandee Nho

Organizers of Riverside Secondary School’s Open Mic Night are crediting its success to the impacts of Bill 115.

On Nov. 29 Riverside had their third Open Mic Night organized by social committee chairs Maggie Lyons, 15, and Todd Pribanic-White, 16. Students from the school are given the opportunity to sing, dance or read poetry for their peers. Every seat in the cafeteria was taken by students in grades 9 through 12 when the night began.

Lyons said the successful turnout had to do with the impacts of Bill 115 which was passed on Sept. 11.

“Bill 115 has taken away the fun of high school,” said Lyons. “Kids don’t have the opportunity to express themselves even if it’s sports, arts, singing, dancing, even a photo club or a chess team. There isn’t a way for students to express themselves. I feel as though kids want to take advantage of those opportunities now.”

Rebecca Amoah, student prime minister at Riverside, said the large turnout of Grade 9 students is unusual for their Open Mic Nights. She said she was surprised the student morale was more expressive than she predicted.

“I thought it was incredible considering what’s going on in our school right now,” said Amoah, 17. “Because we don’t have extra curricular activities, I expected the morale of the school to be down and people not interested in coming out to our events because there aren’t any sports. So that kind of lowers the energy of the school and that’s what I’ve been seeing a lot lately. Today we were able to bring everyone back together.”

Before the event, students were encouraged to bring in canned goods to donate to the Downtown Mission, Windsor Homes Coalition Inc., and Unemployed Help Centre. Donations will be accepted until Dec. 14.

 

 

Anthony Fecteau, 17, performs at Open Mic Night at Riverside Secondary School’s cafeteria on Nov. 29.    (PHOTO BY / Sandee Nho)