Grade 10 Civics & Careers students reach out to their neighbours
Do you know your neighbours? In Grade 10 Civics & Careers class, students stepped out of their comfort zones, walked across their street, and visited with their neighbours. Why? Because one of our greatest commands as Christians is to love our neighbours.
It all began with “Who?”
At the beginning of the course, Mrs. MacDouell asked her class, “Who is our neighbour?” The students responded with, “Everyone is our neighbour!” The problem is that it’s hard to love everyone in the world. Trying to ‘love everyone’ often just leads to apathy. There’s a big difference between good intentions and being intentional. Mrs. MacDouell challenged her class to come up with a way to try and love their actual neighbours. The ones who live right across the street. It wasn’t going to be easy.
“I was terrified.”
Most of the students were scared of what this project would require of them. There were so many unknowns!
“I was terrified. I had no clue where I was going to go with this. I didn’t know where to start at all….I like to have a concrete list of steps…but with this, I couldn’t make a plan because people are impossible to predict. So I didn’t know where it was going to go, I couldn’t prepare for what was going to happen and it scared me.” – Jesse, student
Forever Changed
Students reached out to their neighbours. They organized visits or just popped over. They had tea, ate cookie, shared stories, and talked about life.
“I was glad to have the chance to meet such amazing people. It was a great experience and it really struck me that these great people were living next to me. I had never met them. I had never said hi. I had never done anything to make contact with them. I feel like I have waisted a lot of my life just not knowing them.” – Jesse, student
Other students had similar experiences:
“We have learned that neighbours are very friendly and are willing to get to know you. We also learned that it’s not just us wanting to get to know our neighbours, they are also wanting to get to know us…it has been very beneficial to see how one small act of kindness can influence developing a relationship.” – Miranda and Phyleine, students
To read more about what Miranda and Phyleine had to say about this project, read the Winter 2020 ConnectED Magazine!