Intersession - Part III

 

On Tuesday, December 9, our third intersession day of the school year, the Grade 10s participated in the United Way’s Day of Caring, which was an opportunity for them to give back to the Peterborough community through community service. In small groups, students spent half the day volunteering with Kawartha Food Share, Camp Kawartha, Heads Up for Inclusion, Ontario Public Information and Research Group, The Mount Community Centre, the Canadian Canoe Museum and St James Church. Their responsibilities included sorting and packaging food, taking apart bunk beds to prepare cabins for painting, creating posters, re-organizing craft supplies and Sunday school rooms, painting, cleaning and decorating for the holidays. Students returned to campus with interesting stories to share and smiles on their faces. Comments from the students included: “I liked having the chance to help others and and give back to the community”; “I learned that giving back to the community is something that I enjoy doing!”; “I learned that some people in my community have less then we think”; “It made me realize that some activities such as food packing are harder than I would have thought, so it made me value more everything charities do to help people”; “I learned about how much our community relies on food banks. I had no idea that so many schools rely on them. I also learned how much work goes into sorting the food”. “I really liked painting the Canoe Museum gift shop…it felt really good to help out the kind people who work there”; “I liked learning about what the organization we helped does.”; “I liked that we got to help a charity and I liked how they reacted to us helping out”. 

 

While on campus, students had time to process and reflect on their volunteer experience and participated in workshops designed to encourage them to examine some of the different perspectives on community service, charity and social justice. They also gained greater awareness of issues facing the Peterborough community (many were surprised to learn that in March 2013, almost 8000 people accessed Food Banks in Peterborough and the surrounding area).

 

By the end of the day, the Grade 10 class had chosen Children’s Mental Health Ontario as the organization that their grade wide community service initiative will support and had began planning their fund and awareness raising strategies. It will be exciting to see what this dynamic group has in store for our community in the winter and spring terms. 

 

Stay tuned for your opportunity to get involved! 

 

 

 

The Grade 11 class engaged in a morning of Leadership, Character and Values programming which focussed on what we can do for ourselves that will contribute to our ability to be a more effective leader. The three sessions included, mindfulness and how it can create a better community, letters of gratitude and a communication framework called The Simple Truth. A special thank you to Janet Laughton Mackay for her assistance in facilitating The Simple Truth.