Grade 4 students at St. David Catholic Elementary School were thrilled to discover their September video submission was honoured as a national winner in the 2021 Take Me Outside Student Video Contest.  

The Take Me Outside Student Video Contest is a national competition aiming to get students outside by encouraging them to submit their best, self-made video, featuring how they like to spend their time exploring the outdoors in Canada. 

With a tight deadline of Sept. 17th and less than two weeks back at school, Mrs. Toffoli’s class were up for the challenge and placed second nationwide in the class category. In reward for their tremendous work, the class received gift cards from MEC to help get them outside even more!

“I am so proud of my classmates and my teacher because we won second place in Canada.” Edrea, Gr. 4 Student

“I am so happy that we got second place. Our hard work paid off.” Diymtrius, Gr. 4 Student

Mrs. Toffoli and her teaching assistant Brandon Antonioni ensured students had the support and resources to inspire the creativity needed to create the video and follow the rules. 

“When I first heard about the contest, I knew right away St. David School had the perfect backyard. We have such amazing trails and a great outdoor classroom that showcases Canada’s beauty. The students worked hard on this contest and came up with some brilliant reasons why learning from and on the land is important to them.” Stephanie Toffoli, Gr. 4 Teacher 

“At St. David School, we continue to work to enhance our teaching pedagogy to ensure that we include not only Indigenous theory and knowledge in our lessons but also ways of being. An important part of Truth and Reconciliation is learning on the land and acknowledging the teachings around us in nature. We thank our Indigenous community partners and Elders that continue to support our learning on the land, as well as thank wonderful organizations such as “Take Me Outside” for the encouragement they offer to all schools to take that step outside and enhance our learning.” Dawn-Marie Wemigwans, Principal

The winning video can be found at: St. David Catholic Elementary School’s Take Us Outside Video.

For more information about St. David Catholic Elementary School, please visit, www.st-david.sudburycatholicschools.ca