Building Bridges and Community Connections | Grade 12 Equity and Social Justice Class

Ms. Brown’s Grade 12 Equity and Social Justice class completed their culminating task project for the course, which required them to foster community connections with local professionals and organizations to help them gain insight into their research topic of choice. This task proved to be very rewarding for our students who not only culminated their course with a meaningful project but also built relationships and established connections with members of the LCS community and beyond. 

Liv ’22 conducted her research on sex trafficking and was so successful in working with the organization she reached out to that she secured an internship for the summer. 

“My project was research about sex trafficking. Through research, I learned about organizations and brands that employ survivors of sex trafficking and help them start a new life. It can be extremely difficult for survivors to build a life because of the trauma they face. We can easily help by doing a simple act we already do, which is shopping. I interviewed an organization called Change The World By How You Shop and the creator of the organization, LeeAnne McCoy has offered me an internship with her to train me to learn more about website development, social media marketing, ethical shopping, fair trade, international trade, and more. She also offered to connect me to several brands involved in ethical shopping/fair trade/social good marketing/human trafficking prevention that are often looking for interns and volunteers. This is such a great opportunity for me as I am going into fashion and am so interested in the fast fashion side of the industry!” - Liv ’22

Maria ’22 built a connection with a dedicated member of the LCS community, Pam Hart of Kawartha Truth and Reconciliation Support Group. Pam even attended Maria’s presentation on campus to show support for the work she accomplished on her culminating project. 

“Throughout the summer I read a nonfiction novel by Robin Wall Kimmerer in which I learned a lot about Indigenous values and the beauty of their culture. I was, therefore, very saddened to learn all the hardship they have had to go through. For the purpose of this project, my research question was: In what ways might location within Canada for Indigenous Peoples affect both the impact of intergenerational trauma due to residential school and their access to support systems/jobs?”

“Throughout my project, I learned a lot that I was not aware of before. I learned about Indigenous culture and the values this culture holds. I learned that Indigenous culture has Seven Sacred Teachings, they are Humility, Honesty, Respect, Courage, Wisdom, Truth, and Love. These beautiful values also connect to a few other aspects of the Indigenous culture that I learned about while reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.”

“These respectful, pure, and gratuitous teachings are what was trying to be demolished by the government, this is what was trying to be erased.”

“Working with Pam Hart was such an incredible experience. Not only is she a great storyteller but she speaks with so much kindness, gentleness, and love from her heart when she talks about the stories of people who have suffered. I find it remarkable how she speaks with so much passion and knows every detail of every story.” 

“She was also always willing to make time to come and see me in person for the interviews as well as brought me many books that I can learn from in order to prepare my presentation to the class. She was very kind to bring in the quilt to show to the class during my presentation and came in to listen to my presentation. I am so happy and honoured that I got a chance to meet her and am thankful for Ms. Brown, my teacher, who helped me get in contact with Pam.” - Maria ’22 

Shenda ’22 interviewed two members of our immediate community, Ms. Gilfillan and Ms. Frickey to learn more about the intersectionality of ableism and sexism. 

We love to see our students build and strengthen community connections, not only to learn from local professionals built to further develop a sense of belonging, which can help improve motivation, health, and happiness.