What matters?
Who matters?
Why does it matter?
How we can best be of service?
As part of a new inquiry unit, A Call to Action, Year 7 students have been considering these questions in alignment with the 2019 College Theme ‘Discernment to Action, with one foot Raised’.
We know that students learn and serve best when what they are engaging in what is important to them, and A Call to Action gives students an opportunity to explore and serve within an area of interest and passion. Fundamentally, A Call to Action is about being globally-minded and seeking to make the world a better and more peaceful place.
Initially, students investigated an individual or organisation who had worked for the good of humanity. Our young men were then asked to consider their own role in shaping the world. They identified and set their own goals and developed action plans, which generated a strong sense of agency amongst the boys. They then took their learning outside the College walls and actually engaged with the community they were serving.
And what a range of action! In Homeroom Year 7 Miki alone, Jack Westmore volunteered with his grandfather on a Vinnies bread run whilst Max Toomey spent the holidays on his grandmother’s farm investigating the impact of drought on farming communities. Max MacIsaac and Harri Reynolds were environmental warriors as they cleaned up litter from their local areas and Nathan Nguyen gave young primary students from the Richmond the gift of music through a series of Brass workshops.
All boys gained a deeper sense of empathy for those within the community that they served and an understanding that ‘from little things, big things grow’.
Eunice Goessler
Former Head of English, Burke Hall Campus
