The Fort Issue 05 Feb 2020 | Page 17

In Memory of Viti Panczel

It is now a year since the Verdala family lost one of its own. Viti passed away in January 2019 after a brave battle with cancer and as a member of community she has not been far from our thoughts as we have come to terms with dark side of this challenging disease. At the time the students were very keen to find a way keep her memory alive at VIS. A group of Grade 9 students have continued with their work from their Grade 8, GIVE (Green Verdala Initiative Enterprise) project. This group had designed, constructed and painted a bench, made from discarded wooden pallets. They wanted to dedicate it to the memory of Viti Panczel.

They asked her friends to decide on what would be written on the plaque and they chose the following, as they wanted somewhere where they could sit and think, remembering all of their happy times together.

We sit by here everyday

To know that you are never far away

Viti's parents came to see the bench and were deeply touched by the gesture. They brought in a tree that Viti herself planted from a seed when she joined the Verdala School and family. Both the bench and pomegranate tree will sit side by side in the high School campus