Wellington Today Wellington Today 2018 en | Page 28

2018
WELLINGTON COMMUNITY
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
WELLY RUNNERS
CONQUERED
THE GREAT WALL
WELLINGTON READ-A-THON
RAISES OVER 50,000 RMB
FOR NEW LIBRARIES
By Jo Evans, Captain of the Welly Runners (Director of Wellbeing),
Wellington College International Shanghai
Nothing inspires a love of reading like a welcoming library that’s
well-stocked with books to discover, and nobody understands
that more than our very own librarian, Mrs Pippa Jacobi. That’s
why, with the help of Wellington’s pupils, Mrs Jacobi has been
raising awareness and money for disadvantaged children in China
and other parts of Asia who don’t have the same access to books
that we often take for granted.
A number of staff members, collectively known as the
‘Welly runners’, travelled to Beijing to take part in the Great
Wall Marathon. Demonstrating an iron will and enormous
perseverance, they conquered both the roasting heat and the
unrelenting stone steps, showing their commitment to the
Wellington core values of courage and resilience with every step.
Any marathon represents a massive challenge but the Great
Wall Marathon has something of a fierce reputation, due to its
unforgiving terrain and soaring temperatures. This year’s runners
had to contend with searing 35-degree heat for the majority of
their running time. However, showing true Wellington grit, the
teachers and supporting group members met the extremely
tough conditions head on.
After a gruelling 3am start from Beijing they headed out to
Huangyaguan near Tianjin, where they began a very long and hot
day of intense physical exertion, morale-boosting displays of team
spirit, and torturous trudging along the road in the rising heat.
Thankfully, not even the Great Wall of China goes on forever,
and every member of the Welly Runners made it to the finish
line. For endurance races of this nature, it is essential to have the
courage to keep going even when you feel defeated and want to
give up. Some of the runners finished strong and smiling, whereas
others staggered across the line mustering little more than a
grimace, but each and every one of them came home with that
coveted medal: proof that they had indeed, conquered The Wall.
We hope that the Welly runners’ experience will serve as a
useful example for our pupils regarding the nature of courage
and resilience. At Wellington, we always encourage our pupils to
try something new and to be brave enough to take risks. Success
usually comes after repeated failures and the determination to
try again. Wellington develops pupils’ knowledge and academic
skills, but we also instil a vital sense of resilience in order to help
prepare them for the fast-paced and challenging future that waits
for them after their time here is completed.
As part of the Library Project Read-a-thon 2017, Wellingtonians
from reception upwards have been demonstrating their love
of books and reading. Thanks to their diligent devouring of
hundreds of books, collectively spending almost 550 hours
reading, Wellington’s pupils have raised a grand total of 52,318
RMB. While all of the participating readers should be very proud
of their efforts, a special mention must be made of Leo in year 5,
who is the 2017 ‘Minute Champion’, having read for a remarkable
1,760 minutes or 29.3 hours!
So prepare yourself for the 2018 read-a-thon by picking out a
few page-turners, and hopefully we can provide more books,
shelves and comfy chairs where children can curl up and fall
in love with reading. Events of this nature serve as an ideal
opportunity to spread Wellington’s ideal of inclusivity beyond the
College itself by helping those less privileged and making them
feel part of the greater community around them. Given our
pupils sterling effort and attitude this year, we can’t wait to see
what they can manage in 2018.
The donation was given to the Library Project charity on Friday
23rd June and hopefully by the end of the term we should
know exactly how many new libraries and book corners it will
make possible. Naturally, this amazing feat could not have been
achieved without the encouragement and generous sponsorship
of Wellington’s parents, so a big thank you must go out to all of
the parents who helped raise this year’s grand total.
This is the second year of the read-a-thon in connection with
the Library Project, a charity whose goal is to construct libraries
in migrant children’s schools in China. The charity approached
Mrs Jacobi back in Wellington’s founding year but the College
had relatively few pupils (and the library had few books!) so
the read-a-thon launch was planned for the following year.
However, in 2016 Wellington managed to completely smash its
original fundraising target of 18,000 RMB, reaching a total of
over 76,000 RMB – the highest amount donated by any school
in Asia that year. This was sufficient to outfit four new libraries
and reading corners.
‘There’s such a love of reading here at Wellington that pupils across
all ages instantly understood the value and importance of what the
charity is trying to do. They really got it last year and this year
there was that same attitude of wanting to read in order to help less
fortunate children discover a love of books too. Having introduced
reception to this year’s Read-a-Thon, I’m hoping that next year will
be an even greater success, as everyone throughout the school will be
aware of the project.’ – Mrs Jacobi
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