Is there a point of dying your hair orange and spending the morning administrating a school from the rooftop if no one’s around to see you do it?

Ottawa Christian School’s (OCS) advancement co-ordinator Virginia Dawson thinks not.

Dawson recently contacted Axiom News, which provides the news service for the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools (OACS), to write a story about a recent walkathon fundraiser.

The school is an OACS member and Dawson inquired about getting a story written that she could leverage.

Dawson is restructuring an Oct. 4 story and sending it to local media and community members as an invitation to watch principal Paul Triemstra honour a colourful commitment to his students.

Triemstra pledged to move his desk to the school roof and dye his hair orange for the morning of Oct. 14 if students raised more than $65,000 during its 41st annual walkathon fundraiser.

Students, parents, grandparents, family members, friends and community members raised a record $67,116.31 during their fundraising campaign on Sept. 24.

Rain or shine, Triemstra will spend his morning on the roof to the delight of his students.

“I typically invite the local politicians and I’ll have information out there beforehand,” says Dawson. “That’s why (the articles) come in handy for me — I’m advancement co-ordinator, but only part time. I have (Axiom News) write up the story, then I take it, tweak it a bit, and send it out to the media outlets, TV, radio and newspapers.”

She says the stories have successfully brought the school attention in the past.

Reporters covering the Nepean/Barrhaven region and local politicians have joined the event, including Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre, Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod, and Ottawa city councillor Jan Harder.

Dawson says the publicity helps spread the name of OCS in the community and invite more community members to learn about Christian schools.

“It lets people in the community know what we do and who we are,” says Dawson. “Our doors are always open, whether people are interested in sending their children to OCS, or if they just want to take a tour and get to know us, because we’re neighbours.”

If you have feedback on this story, please call the newsroom at 800-294-0051, ext. 29, or e-mail ryan(at)axiomnews.ca.