Written By: Rachel Bobin Kim, Sana Shibuichi (Class of 2024), Jimin An, Seoyeon Park (Class of 2025)
After coming back from a long and refreshing October Break, Wells Animal Clubs hosted ‘Animal Week 2023’ from Tuesday, October 24 to Friday, October 27, 2023. The purpose of this event was to raise awareness about animal welfare and engage with various organizations with similar causes. Numerous events during Animal Week allowed Wells students to be energized and excited to come back on campus.
On Tuesday, October 24th, Love Ocean Life (LOL), a club dedicated to supporting ocean life, took the initiative for the start of an amazing week. LOL welcomed an online guest speaker, Mr. Brendon Sing, from Shark Guardian. Shark Guardian is a UK-based charity with the aim to advance the conservation of sharks and the natural environment through research, conservation, and education. Some of the LOL club members got in touch with Shark Guardian during the ServICE Conference 2023 held at NIST International School. LOL club members and Grade 1 students enjoyed an informative and fascinating presentation from Mr. Brendon. Students learned about the endangerment of sharks, what is causing it, and what we can do to provide a safer environment for sharks to live in. Thank you, Shark Guardian and Mr. Brendon for your time and an enriching session!
On Wednesday, October 25th, K9 Wells continued the momentum of excitement. K9 is a club at Wells International School dedicated to raising awareness and providing care for street dogs. K9’s collaborating organization is CHSA Thai Stray Animal Shelter, a shelter providing care for various stray animals, especially dogs. K9 welcomed Bahloo, one of our dog-loving teacher Mr. Chase’s dog, who was adopted from CHSA Thai Stray Animal Shelter. Bahloo captured every students’ and teachers’ attention with her friendly personality and adorable looks! Thank you, Bahloo, for easing and relaxing our minds during the busy week! On top of that, K9 hosted a booth selling nachos during the school day as a fundraiser. Students and teachers enjoyed a special mid-day snack!
On Thursday, October 26th, Wells Helping PAWS participated in Animal Week as a fantastic opportunity to promote the welfare of cats. PAWS’ primary objective is to support and enlighten the community in Wells about stray cats. The collaborating organization is PAWS Bangkok, a non-profit organization that offers vital healthcare to stray and community animals. To achieve the goal of raising awareness and funds, PAWS organized interactive activities and merchandise sales. Primary school students were encouraged to enjoy a little game of “Pin the Tail”, in which they won a cat sticker for a prize. The newly established PAWS Middle School Team also organized the game of Cup Pong for middle school students to enjoy. Alongside the fun activities, merchandise selling took place during primary, middle, and high school lunch times. PAWS offered special hand-made cookies, hand-made keychains, hand-made bracelets from PAWS MS Team, cat keychains, and many more!
Friday, October 27th was the last but most exciting day of Animal Week. All 3 animal clubs hosted booths to wrap up Animal Week during primary, middle, and high school lunchtime! LOL provided a special photo opportunity with a shark mascot, along with selling home-baked brownies and hand-made keychains. K9 had a special and delicious marshmallow treat sale. PAWS continued with cup pong and pin the tail games, as well as selling merchandise such as stickers and keychains.
Throughout the week and the week after, donation boxes for each cause (LOL’s Shark Guardian, K9’s CHSA Stray Animal Shelter, and PAWS’ PAWS Bangkok) were placed in the lobby. In addition, a donation box for Thailand Animal Shelter (TAS), an organization that a Wells alumni, Sami Soni (Class of 2017), has initiated, was placed in the lobby. In the end, the total donations of about 3500 baht were received for all 4 causes combined. Thank you so much to everyone in the Wells community for your support!
All the support from the community through the fundraising booths, activities, and donation boxes is truly appreciated and meaningful for all animals in need. Animal Week offered the community the ability to enhance the well-being of animals while also instilling values of respect and commitment. The ultimate goal for all animal-dedicated clubs and organizations is to ensure that stray and community animals have access to sufficient food and shelter and to create a safer environment for them. Animal Week also showed how collaborating with various clubs and organizations with similar causes can promote a lot more than a single club can do. A shoutout to all animal club members, leaders, and advisors who contributed to and played a vital role in making this event a successful and meaningful one! Wells animal clubs, Love Ocean Life, K9 Wells, and Wells Helping PAWS, will continue to emphasize and spread awareness about the importance of protecting all animals in need.
