To show their support to those battling on the front lines with the issues arising as a result of COVID-19, some of the Year 7 Humanities students, during Friday’s Humanities lesson, wrote open and emotional letters to those who they believe need support and encouragement due to the global pandemic.

During the morning’s lesson, Miss Kylie Meek, College Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) teacher, encouraged the students to embrace their feelings regarding the current situation and use this to help them empathise with others. As a class, the students discussed the different community members that were being affected, shared strategies to overcome the emotional impact that was being felt, as well as focusing on the importance of saying ‘thank you’ to the many people risking their own health to ensure that we maintain ours.

“We could talk all day about the negative aspects of what is currently happening, the impacts on health and the economy, or we can empathise and take constructive action to help the situation,” said Miss Meek when discussing her reasoning for choosing to focus on this topic.

“There are many people in roles/situations at the moment whereby they have to think beyond their own circumstance and come together as a community to show resilience and empathy.”

“My Year 7 students are a spirited bunch and I thought it was important to have some open conversations with them regarding empathy and about the people within society who are currently going above and beyond and even the ones who are doing it tough.”

“The students really got involved and drove this lesson. They brainstormed all of the people who came to mind, from those directly impacted in their own family and social circles, to Australia at large. However, it was clear to see that the students demonstrated an extra passion towards our medical staff, teachers in all schools and employees within industries where they have lost their stream of income. The students wrote letters to people they wanted to thank, and I was blown away with what they wrote in these. I’ve never seen such engagement from them for a writing task and you could see the passion exhibited from them all.”

Many of the letters written were addressed to doctors, nurses, other health care practitioners, health advisors, teachers, Coles/Woolworths/Aldi workers and people working in struggling businesses.

The future looks bright when we look at our young people. As a College, we are aware of how students are feeling, and we are doing everything possible to keep them safe and to teach them strategies for dealing with worry in uncertain times. We thank all Australians for keeping us going and playing their part in keeping Australia safe.