In December 2021 we put out our first ever Call to Classrooms activity, where we challenged students from around Manitoba to learn about the Sustainable Development Goals, pick one they were passionate about, and redesign our $20 Canadian bill based on that SDG. There were over 70 submissions, with designs featuring notable Canadians and others highlighting very current and important global issues, many of which focused on Climate Action.

MCIC would like to thank everyone who participated in our Call to Classrooms challenge! We truly loved seeing all the amazing submissions and thoughtful work that went into them.

We would like to congratulate the chosen winners representing grades 7, 8 and 9. They are Marco from John Pritchard School, Ayo, Eden, Laksh, Jacob and Hunter from École South Pointe School, and Emily from Murdoch Mackay Collegiate.


For this lesson plan and many others, check out our Educators and Youth page!


The Winning Designs

In no particular order

Hand drawn green twenty dollar bill featuring Kate Henderson

"Quality Education takes a place in the center of any topic. Beginning to access quality education offers us the possibilities for various SDGs to be achieved. Thus, accumulating the basic knowledge is essential to accomplish and maintain SDGs and change the world. 

The person I drew, Kate Henderson, as a new $20 bill design is a teacher, related to the content of Quality Education. Kate Henderson was a Canadian pioneer in education. She was a teacher in Prince Edward Island in the 1880's who pursued the efficacy of more modern teaching techniques. Henderson can be indicated as a person who has consistently improved the quality of education along her pursuit. 

Kate Henderson is not well known. Although she isn't remembered for a world event or important accomplishment, people who have a similar mind to her, pursuing various techniques, are the starting points of developments made in the world. 

I hope my $20 bill design impacts people's minds, being thankful for not well known people like Kate Henderson who have developed our present through their pursuit of education, for us to indicate their existence, and affected with the awareness of the importance of Quality Education, the powerful weapon which can be used to change the world."

Eden, École South Pointe School

 Twenty dollar bill design featuring David Suzuki
 

"My $20 bill is based off the SDG "Climate Action." I chose this SDG because I feel it is extremely important that we are taking care of our planet.  

The drawings on my $20 bill are all things that help us educate ourselves on climate change, starting with David Suzuki. David Suzuki is a 85 year old science broadcaster and environmental activist. He has helped many people in Canada by teaching them how they can help the environment.  

Next is green buildings. Green buildings are buildings that environmentalists specifically made to give our air things it can't get because of pollution. When you look at one of these buildings you will see lots of greenery pouring out the sides. 

Another thing that is extremely crucial is taking care of our trees and reducing the amount of trees we cut down. Animals are losing their homes and it's affecting our earth very much. Though trees may be simple, they are a very important part of our planet. 

I added the recycling symbol to remind people when they look at it to recycle because it's very important that we don't pollute the earth with plastic."

- Emily, Murdoch MacKay Collegiate

 Twenty dollar bill design depicting the ocean

"The Sustainable Development Goal I chose was Life Under Water. I chose Life Under Water because I feel like that problem isn't really paid that much attention. Those sea creatures that live underwater, big or small, are important too. 

During the making of my $20 bill, the idea was to portray what the ocean currently looks like. At the bottom, you can see the water isn't clear; there are some particles in it, and turtles are being trapped in plastic. The ocean is being littered with trash every day, fish are dying or being poisoned with something that has been dumped in the water, and so on. The other half is what it should look like: clean, free turtles, fishes swimming. The ocean should be like that."

- Ayo, École South Pointe School

 Twenty dollar bill design showing the planet half healthy and half destroyed

"I chose Climate Action for my SDG because I think climate change is a big problem but we are doing practically nothing about it. In my drawing of the $20 bill, I did a simple drawing of the planet and showed what we should be doing vs. what we should not be doing. If this were an actual $20 bill, I feel like people would change their mind on what they are buying."

- Marco, John Pritchard School 

Hand drawn twenty dollar bill design

"We chose Climate Action because we think it is one of the toughest challenges earth will face. We want to raise awareness before it is too late. We should realise how much damage CO2 can do. Climate change not only affects us, but it hurts animals as well. Animals like polar bears, whose habitat are ice caps which are melting because of the warmer temperature. If we reduce the amount of CO2 in the air, it could make a big difference. We can start by riding bikes to school and work, little things that can make a big difference.

Take action before it is too late."

- Laksh, Jacob, Hunter & Louis, École South Pointe School

A special thank you to all the teachers, principals, vice principals and superintendents in the Pembina Trails School Division and River East Transcona School Division for fostering #IDW2022 in their schools.  


The Runner-Ups

In addition to the winners, MCIC would like to share some of the other amazing submissions

Louis Riel image.png (116 KB)

“If there was peace in this world, there would not be hunger, war, discrimination. There would be great justice, unity and humanity in the world. There would be greater joy and happiness in the world. Louis Riel was a man who wanted peace for his people.” 

“It is important to keep our planet healthy. I think that this picture will impact everyone in Canada by showing them if we continue… the earth will slowly die.”  2.png (1.20 MB)
a2.png (2.26 MB) “If there is (partnership) between governments of the world and the people of the world, it automatically creates unity which is an essential step in fixing the problems of the world. I hope the public will be impacted by the metaphor of the seeds growing into flowers and becoming a thing of beauty, and then apply this concept to or greater society to create unity and peace in our world.” 
“I believe that we need to stop polluting the ocean. I put the turtle… because it represents truth. It would probably help out with the polluting in the ocean if (the $20 bill) were created in real life”. a3.png (1.72 MB)
3.png (1.21 MB) “Nature is disappearing everyday. If this $20 bill was real, I think people would start to notice that the greenness is disappearing because they would compare what they see every day to something that is disappearing. Then I hope they will try to help restore the forests that once stood.”