High school grads learn their world is bigger than one community

By Melanie Jackson
msjacksonpei@gmail.com

There’s nothing like a common goal to bring a group of people together.

That’s what the Grade 12 Global Issues class at Morell Regional High School learned during their recent fundraising efforts for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

“A lot of us graduated from high school without knowing a whole lot about the world we live in,” Ian Coffin, who teaches the Global Issues class, said.

“This class is designed to give the students a snapshot of what it’s like in the real world and prepare them for it when they get out there.”

As part of the course, students must do Project Based Learning where they each take part in a humanitarian project.

In the past, Mr Coffin said students split into teams and focused on different projects and causes. This year, however, he wanted the students to work together on the same project, as one cohesive group.

“Every group chose their own project, but never had that one final product that brought them together as a group,” he said.

This year, however, that has changed.

In May, Mr Coffin was approached by representatives from the Kings County branch of the Canadian Cancer Society who asked if his class would like to get involved in the Relay for Life.

“We thought it was a great fit,” Mr Coffin said. “I mentioned it to the class, they jumped on board, and here we are three weeks later, ready to go.”

The class was eager to help out the Cancer Society because cancer is something they’ve all dealt with in their lives, even at such a young age.

“Everybody’s family has been affected by cancer,” Brittany Jay, one of the class’s team leaders, said. “My grandmother battled cancer, but she’s OK now. And my next door neighbour, who is like a family member, has cancer. It’s just a way to give back and help all the families.”

Indeed, many of the class’s students’ loved ones have been touched by cancer in one way or another.

“My sister had cancer. She’s a survivor, so it’s really important for me to be a part of this,” Maria McQuaid, another team participant, said.

Mireyne MacMillan, another of Mr Coffin’s students, said everyone at Morell High can relate to the cause because it’s something they had to deal with even inside their school.

“We had a teacher that fought cancer. She was out for a year, so we’ve all been affected by it,” Mireyne said.
MacKenzie Smith, also in the Grade 12 class, thinks it’s a great way for their graduating class to leave a lasting impression on the students who will follow them.

“We’ll leave a legacy here at Morell,” she said. “Because we’re all doing this as our Grade 12 class and it’s going to be a big thing because we’ve raised a lot of money.”

In just over three weeks, the class raised over $3,800 for the Relay through various fundraisers such as a cake sale, an in-school hockey pool and grocery bagging at the Morell Co-op. All of the money will be donated to the Kings County branch of the Cancer Society.

Although the class divided into five separate teams, the students all worked together to help out each team in their individual fundraising projects.

And it wasn’t just the 23 Global Issues students who helped one another. Mr Coffin said about two-thirds of Morell High’s entire graduating class - 38 students in total - joined in to contribute to the cause, as well as five or six of the school’s teachers.

That’s where the students’ lessons in collaboration and cooperation came into play.

“Most of what they learned is about how they all pitched in and helped each other,” Mr Coffin said.

“If some team needed a body to help out, someone would volunteer,” he said. “It’s been nice to see them do that. And when we get to the Relay for Life, we’re going to be very much one big team.”

MacKenzie said even though it’s something you might expect from students their age, there was never any conflict among the teams throughout the whole project.

“We were always getting along and helping each other, which is pretty surprising for a group of teenagers,” she said, as the girls all giggled in agreement.

“We don’t even necessarily all hang out with each other outside of school,” Brittany added, “but we all just came together - personal issues aside, cliques aside. We all came together.”

Mr Coffin said it made him proud to see his students learn about partnership and teamwork.

“As a teacher it’s really rewarding to just let them loose and watch them do all the work,” he said, adding that it’s part of the mandate of his Global Issues class - to teach students they’ll have to work with people they don’t necessarily get along with or who have different ideas and objectives.

“They identified a problem and they worked together to solve it,” he said. “It was impressive to watch.”

Brittany said while it was gratifying to work together on such an important cause, breaking down the barriers between school cliques was equally rewarding.

“You’re getting to see a side of people you may not have seen in the hallway at school,” she said. “Once we all came together, all our differences were put aside and we just helped each other and wanted to make a difference. And I think we did.”

All the girls agreed the experience has taught them they can make a difference, no matter how small their school or community is.

“You learn that the world isn’t as small as we think. It’s bigger than Morell, bigger than the Island,” Mireyne said. “It really opened our minds.”

Mr Coffin said the Project Based Learning has also given his students many skills that will be transferable to adulthood, and that it’s Morell High’s mission to teach students to become responsible adults.

“The things they did for the last three or four weeks during this project are all the things you want for a graduate,” he said. “You don’t care if they remember a complicated math formula, but you do want them to be able to work with people. You want them to be part of a team, and contribute, and have some sense of value in accomplishing tasks.”

Mr Coffin said he’s been able to see a difference in his students over the course of their Project Based Learning.

“You can see a change in how they approach others,” he said.

“They gained a real appreciation for how to treat others. It’s remarkable.”

The girls said they, too, can see the change in themselves.

“You can see it in the way we interact with each other now,” MacKenzie said. “Even the way we carry ourselves - you can see we feel good about ourselves because we did something good.”
Brittany agreed, adding that it gave her a confidence she’s not sure she had before.

“I feel more mature,” she said, “more responsible.”

Mr Coffin said the whole experience has given the students a real sense of accomplishment.

“We talked in class the other day about how cool it will be to say, when they do find a cure for cancer, ‘I helped do that,’” he said.

“They’re a pretty impressive group of teens.”

Photo: Students from the Global Issues class at Morell High School show off their self-decorated Relay for Life t-shirts.  The Grade 12 students took part in Charlottetown's Relay for Life Friday as part of the Project Based Learning component of the class which teaches students how to work as a team on a humanitarian project. Wearing their shirts, from left, are Mireyne MacMillan, Global Issues teacher Ian Coffin, Brittany Jay, Maria McQuaid and MacKenzie Smith.  All together the students raised more than $3,800 for the Canadian Cancer Society.   Melanie Jackson photo

First appeared in The Eastern Graphic June 12, 2013