đ§ Wave Reads For You
It was getting close to the end of the school year for Mrs. Thomas and her Grade 6 class. Everyone was very excited! Summer vacation was getting closer with each passing moment. Two whole months of freedom , here we come!
At the same time, underneath all the enthusiasm, the teacher sensed worry. These kids were growing up quickly. They were aware of the wide variety of problems in the world, from climate change to brutal wars. From crime and homelessness to poverty and hunger. There seems to be no end in sight. âHow long will it be until my family needs to line up at the Food Bank?â
Mrs. Thomas decided to veer off her lesson plan. Instead, she started discussing some of these troubling topics. But rather than focus on problems, she led her students to think about solutions. âWhat can we all do in our own way to better the world we live in? To protect our country, our community, and our families?â She asked them to become influencers for good. Then she suggested that they write about their findings and experiences to share with the class as their first assignment in the Fall.
Fast forward to September. The kids rose to the challenge. These are their stories:
Becoming a Transformer
By Ali, age 12
So this will be really easy. Iâm not planning to do anything this summer. My report will be about nothing. Just like Seinfeld. Haha.
My friends and I will probably just hang most days with the older boys shooting hoops. My big brother is a good guy and he lets us watch them. We cheer them on and sometimes help them do their victory slam jams. Once in a while, they even let us sub in for guys who donât show. Thatâs cool.
The bball court itself is pretty lame. Itâs a sand lot behind an old construction site. We have two rusty old nets â rims, really, with some dirty net strings hanging around the edges. We took them from our old playground after the flood. Ah, yes⊠the old playground. Do I ever miss that place!
When my Mom and Dad bought our house fifteen years ago, the playground was a big reason. It was right around the corner and my parents knew it would be a great place for my brother to play. He was just a baby and I wasnât even born yet. The City looked after the park so it was always clean and safe. There were swings and slides and monkey bars for the little kids. There was a wading pool at one end and a water fountain that had the coldest water Iâve ever tasted, even on hot summer days! There was an off-leash area for dogs and a group of benches in the shade where Moms could relax with their friends.
Most important, it had a basketball court and a diamond for T-ball. Those were the days!
It has been four years since the cyclone touched down and caused a huge flood that covered the entire park. It took months for the water to dry out and a few tree branches are still stuck in the fences. There was a lot of damage everywhere and City staff have been working to fix the most important things first. The park is not near the top of their list. So it is swampy and smelly in some places. The streetlights still donât work and my Dad says that bad people do bad things in the dark and weâre not allowed to go any more. We know heâs right, âcause thereâs more and more garbage every day.
Itâs like the whole neighbourhood has lost a great place⊠hold on! Is this what Mrs. Thomas was talking about?? Wouldnât a project to clean up the park be worthwhile for the whole community?
I ran home with this idea bubbling in my head. My brother Ashad was stoked. We knew this was bigger than just the two of us. We started to make a list of all our friends who we thought might want to help.
But we also knew weâd need some help from adults. âOh, Dad. You busy?â
Well, Dad agreed it was a fantastic idea. But, he said, itâs a big project. It would take a long time and we needed to be patient. And we needed to have a plan. Right then and there, we started the first draft of our plan. It would change many times after that day. But just putting it on paper made it come to life.
- What do we want to do?
Dad said itâs important to write down all the things we would like to do, and then zero it on which items were most useful for the most people. And then thinking about the order of tasks and the timing.
- Who are we doing it for?
We created another list of all the people who would benefit from this project. Who might have ideas. Who might be willing to help.
- Whose permission do we need?
Mom was at the table now, with snacks, suggesting that we should contact someone at the City to find out if they have any plans to fix the park. Would we need permissions, or permits, to do the work? She offered to make some calls.
- How do we get money to pay for this?
Ashad brought up the important question of financing. Dad was proud of him for being so practical. Maybe the City could find some money in their budget. Maybe the restaurant across the street could sponsor us? Iâm sure it would help their business. And maybe we could ask the hardware store to donate supplies.
Ashad got even more excited when he came up with the idea of creating a GoFundMe page for the clean-up. He said we could take a video of the park today and then use AI to show what it could look like.
- How do we find people to help?
Mom loved Ashadâs idea for a video. âWe could use that online to recruit people who could help us,â she said. âAnd how about contacting groups like the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides and other community groups?â
Dad said that sometimes, the hardest part of a project can be managing the people. And, of course, the budget. People with good intentions can sometimes go off-track. We must have a Project Manager who is not afraid of being in charge. Especially at the beginning, during the clean-up phase, we would have to make sure that people wear protective clothing to avoid injuries. The team needs to decide on every step.
It was way past bedtime, so we decided to think on all this overnight and talk again in the morning.
Well we did, and the project got started after the big details got worked out. Dad was so right; Ashad became the Project Manager â with Mom and Dadâs help. Dad says this is the kind of experience that employers will one day value.
The summer flew by. I was so busy that I forgot all about this report. Until today, that is, when it is due! So instead of describing the awesome work we did, Ashad and I will be making a presentation to the whole school to show the amazing results we got. The real lesson is that with a good idea, hard work and support from very cool adults, even two kids can become transformers for good!
