Gangnam to classical music - the hallways of Maple Ridge Secondary were buzzing last Friday with buskers collecting donations to help children in Africa get fresh water.

The leadership class - an elective for students in Grades 9 to 12 - organized the penny drive during the school's lunch hour, and they had asked their comrades to bring in their pennies to donate for the busking.

Twenty-five dollars will provide a child with fresh water, the leadership students pointed out.

"It's hard to believe that children don't have fresh water to drink," said Grade 10 Mackenzie Dillen.

In addition to three students doing Gangnam dancing for change, there was a facepainter, a balloon artist, piano players, a guitarist, and an artist drawing caricatures.

The students asked for pennies, because they wanted to highlight the fact that every penny counts when helping charities, and these pennies can effect change.

Leadership student Lauren Westhaver was making the rounds on a unicycle to bring awareness to the penny drive.

The leadership students were inspired to organize the penny drive by We Day, an event put on annually by the organization Free the Children. Pegram

mrantanen@mrtimes.com