We Belong!

Our school community has a lot of students who are new to the country. Coming mostly from developing countries, they are looking forward to having their children succeed in the new environment. An important part of this success is to feel a sense of belonging and to see equity in action. In addition, a lot of them are struggling financially and working hard to give a good education and standard of living to their children.

As part of a community-building effort, we were hoping to CONNECT with the parents in our community by providing all of our students with T-shirts containing a community-building message on them. Not only would it be a piece of clothing to show that the school CARES for all its members, but also a way for our students to see that they all belong. Students would ENGAGE in deciding ways to utilize these T-shirts in a community-friendly way. We would conduct school-wide surveys (involving parents too) to come up with ideas about putting this article to good use (showing spirit, in the welcome package to new families etc). Students would create posters to be sent home to build excitement about this new endeavour.

It would help them THRIVE with a sense of equity and togetherness and see how our community is like a family, where new members can feel safe, because they belong to the community just like the existing members.

Update (May 30, 2012)

We feel fortunate to have received funding for this T-shirt project for our school. It helps cover some of the cost involved in this. After a lot of looking around, we are finally able to find a distributor whose pricing is affordable for our school. Now we are on the lookout for a suitable image that would reflect the community-building feeling that we wish to create. Students will be given the opportunity to share this exciting news with parents through flyers created in the school. They cannot wait to spread the message of togetherness with the community.

Update (June 18, 2012)

After a lot of deep thought, we have finally come up with a T-shirt design. The school engaged in some thought about what the message on the T-shirt should be, something that would reflect our community but also the world and in the end we came up with: "Corliss Public School - Changing the World". Our board designer helped turn that 'vision' into a reality and gave us a picture that we really liked. We also decided to go with a Blue coloured T-shirt instead of a grey one, reasons being that blue was brighter, reflective of our Board colours and seemed more student-friendly!

Students came up with reasons as to why 'Changing the World' would be an appropriate tagline for Corliss Public School and suits the image on the T-shirt. They blogged their responses on a secure blogging site, but here are some of their thoughts:

“Students have changed from babies into educated children” - Jessica
“At Corliss, they learn things that help them change the world later on (by being doctors etc)”
“Kids can change their life by getting a good education” - Raianna
“People change themselves by learning and then they change the world” - Jaspreet
“If we all work together we can make a difference and that’s what Corliss influences us to do” - Mariam
“When we come to Corliss, it feels like the world changed” - Ashutosh
“When you leave Corliss, you leave with memories of good people that cannot be replaced” – Gawandeep
“The world changes if we all have fun in doing our own role at the school” – Jagjot
“We make a difference – Yes we can – we are the cure for cancer, we are the cure for hatred in the world” – Joshua
“This school is not just a fun school, it is an awesome school. Everyone is respected and treated in a special way” – Varun
“There are many religions of the world at Corliss and we respect them all here. We care about everything and everyone” – Jesika D
“Corliss changed my world when I came in grade 4! It made me a great student. It helps everyone become their own person” – Maham
“ I would change the world after coming out from Corliss, by teaching others, especially my cousin and little sister, to be kind and helpful” – Priyanka.

It was heartwarming to see the students sharing a sense of 'belonging' and 'caring' about the school and the world through their responses!

Update (June 26, 2012)

Our 'We Belong' project has come to a happy end! The process of deciding the tagline and taking student input on why would it be a good tagline for the T-shirts was very interesting. The students blogged several different and very good reasons why they would pick "Changing the World" as their tagline. Once it was finalized and T-shirt orders had been placed, the Grade 5 students took it upon themselves to promote the T-shirt by creating posters about them. These posters will be part of the 'Welcome to school' environment at Corliss at the beginning of next year. Our t-shirts will also have arrived by then and Corliss will be ready to change the world with a sense of belonging to the school, the community and the world!