How do we mobilize our students to be good people?
“Walden International School is dedicated to cultivating and preparing principled, compassionate and confident young women and men who will become globally responsible citizens.”
We launched the Walden blog in June 2019. The 44 posts covered topics related to how Walden International School views education, how we make good people and our commitment to ensuring that our students (and broader community) can meet the challenges of life today with enthusiasm, curiosity and resilience. I also, like everyone else, tried to share how we could respond to COVID-19 with hope!
If you’ve read even only one of our posts, you’ll know that our core purpose at Walden is to make good people. And, while that still drives our programmes, we also now turn our attention to how we can encourage our students, their families and our staff to BE good people. We are recommitting ourselves to moving from theory to action.
Imagine what our society could become if each of us actively took our principles to the street, if we each contributed in some small way to making our neighbourhood a better place to live for every one of us, if we took action that would improve the lives of those around us - near and far.
The world is full of young people who, with the right mix of determination and willpower, can effect change at the local level. They begin with one issue they’re passionate about, then find small, local ways to organize and find solutions to the problem.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, presenting the City’s Certificate of Appreciation to
Khalisa Rahim and her mother, Farrah, for creating Heartland Neighbourhood Network.
For example:
The Rahim family created Mississauga's Heartland Neighbourhood Network (HNN) in July 2019. It started with 6-year-old Kalisah, an original Walden student. While on a walk with her family, Kalisah asked how poverty could end. Her parents told her that if everyone helped their neighbour, poverty could be eradicated.
Kalisah responded, “Then why don’t we do that?”
And just like that, the HNN was born in July 2019 with a mission to take action, to spread love and kindness and to bring neighbours together to support, befriend and care for each other with kindness.
Kalisah’s action has inspired over 250 families to become involved with events in the park where people get to know one another, share a meal and do something positive, such as park cleanups and food drives. With the advent of COVID-19, the group took off with neighbours helping neighbours by buying and delivering groceries, checking in on elderly neighbours. The participants help find lost animals and connect people with similar interests such as dog walking, bird watching and building snowmen! Neighbours refer neighbours to services that they need, such as landscaping, roof repairs and vaccine clinics. The Rahims have brought the heart to Heartland!
We don’t need to expect our children to achieve the lofty goals of the Greta Thunbergs or Malalas. We can, though, encourage them to mobilize for goodness.
As I move forward with this blog, we will explore more examples of how Walden students are addressing causes important to them. I’ll share some tips and examples of how we can encourage gentle activism throughout our communities. I will also show how the IB programme acts as a catapult to the future by creating young people with a broader world view.
I hope that you’ll find our thinking inspirational. Thanks for continuing to take this journey with me.