MAD Days 2007This year saw a move away from a nationally designated day, freeing schools to be MAD whenever it suited their schedule. The following page describes very briefly how over 2,800 Tasmanian students created MAD Days in Tasmania. Many of these days marked the beginning or culmination of MAD Projects through which students could research issues in greater depth.  Grade 10 students at Clarence High wanted their MAD Day to address the issues of both animal welfare and poverty. Invasion of the Derwent River by the northern Pacific seastar was the animal welfare focus and students spent the morning of MAD Day removing
 seastars from the rocks around the Bellerive Bluff - 2,616 being collected in a relatively short time! To highlight their concerns about global poverty, students sold Peruvian crafts (such as wallets and letter holders) during class breaks, with the proceeds being returned to the women in Lima who made them. A cake stall, a barbeque and lunch-time entertainment completed the day, raising funds for a primary school in Ningil, Papua New Guinea.Somerset Primary students organised a whole month of MAD activities! These included making a difference to: the environment (planted trees, removed sea spurge from beach, collected old phone books and mobile phones for recycling); the elderly (organised visits); countries without clean drinking water (funds were raised through a Mat Sale and a free dress day); and students (organised Target 2000 to promote reading, planned physical activities and games at lunch-times). The MAD month culminated in a  presentation to the local Rotary Club.
140 Grade 9 students at Devonport High volunteered to work with a variety of community organisations. They spent their day helping with activities such as community gardens, animal rescue, cleaning up public areas, first aid, primary school programs, writing recipes for Gran’s Van and gardening at the nearby Arboretum. Grade 9 students at St Michael’s Collegiate prepared a presentation on environmental regeneration for the school community. Then, assisted by Kingborough Council staff, they planted 600 trees along a stretch of Whitewater Creek at Kingston.  Exeter High students organised and participated in a MAD Day walk to raise awareness of the Make Poverty History campaign.
Click here to see photos and read about this inspiring event, which led other schools in the area to become involved in the campaign through a forum and then a concert, ENOUGH07.
As part of the Oaktree Foundation’s biggest fundraising campaign, “One Day”, The Don College students organised a raffle with a difference. They made a hundred tickets featuring an acorn, numbered them and sold them for $1.00 each. A three dimensional display of an oak tree was set up in the library with information about "One Day" and the Oaktree Foundation.  MAD Day at Gagebrook Primary was a day for Grade 3 and 4 students to launch their MAD Project,
Cambodia We Care. On the day they raised awareness of the plight
of children affected by landmines, particularly those in Cambodia,
through games and competitions. At Huonville High, 25 grade 7 students decided on 2 areas of concern;
embracing diversity in their local community and confronting climate change. Their MAD Day was spread over 2 days; on the first they welcomed Hilary, a refugee from Sudan, who shared stories from her time in a refugee camp and coming to Australia to start a new life. On the second MAD Day, Helen Pryor, from Sustainable Living Tasmania shared ideas with them on how they could make a difference to climate change through simple changes at home and at school.
 Molesworth Primary students were concerned about the poor state of their local stream, Sorell Creek, where willows, blackberries and other weeds have taken over. For their MAD Day they removed these from the riparian zone and replaced them with native plants, donated by the New Norfolk City Council. The day was seen to be the beginning of an on-going commitment which will include raising community awareness, testing water quality, weeding and planting.
 Grade 3 students at New Town Primary launched their MAD Project on MAD Day. They decided on three goals for their Project: (1) running a campaign to reduce energy use and waste in the school and home; (2) raising money for an endangered animal project; and (3) raising money for people who have less resources. For the remainder of 2007, the focus was on saving energy around the school, including regular checks of power usage, starting a vegetable garden and becoming worm farmers.
 Riverside High, inspired by the success of the Exeter High School MAD Day, held a Make Poverty History Walk to promote the international campaign. The walk was the concluding activity for Grade 7 students who had been researching global poverty. Saving energy and minimising waste was also the focus for Oatlands District High, which ran a MAD week. Students created posters and fact sheets; showed videos; gave presentations; and organised a lunch-time trivia challenge, which included questions on saving energy. A competition to minimise waste saw classes allocated areas of the school grounds and challenged to keep them clean and waste free for two weeks. Student leaders monitored this and awarded a certificate to the winning class. Each class was also made responsible for initiating their own ideas on how to Reduce, Reuse or Recycle in their classrooms.  Mali, in Western Africa, is one of the world’s poorest nations. SRC students at
Rose Bay High wanted to make other students aware of the poor conditions that exist for Malians and to raise money to buy services for them. The SRC held an assembly where they explained the major issues, showed a video and
assisted all students to complete a questionnaire which they had designed. This was followed by ‘Bands in the Gym’ where a gold coin entrance fee was charged to raise funds for Mali.
 Taroona High students learnt more about the scourge of the northern Pacific seastar from a display prepared by Grade 10 students. The informative display included live specimens which they collected from the Sandy Bay Sailing Club and placed in an aquarium. Students wanted to increase awareness among the school community of the threat and consequences of this pest.
The Rosetta Primary SRC were concerned about the situation for children living in poverty, especially those in Laos and the Philippines. They organised activities which gave all grades a greater awareness of living conditions for these children, the reasons for this and ways to make a difference. They held a whole school assembly where they talked about street kids and showed a World Vision DVD. Each class was encouraged to raise $40 which is enough to feed 8 children for 1 month. For their MAD Day, college students at The Friends’ School held an International Food Fair - organising, cooking and selling food from different countries to raise funds for a school in Bangladesh. |
