It is clear that children in this community, and surrounding communities, have been brought up caring about what happens to their hometown.
Time and time again, the pages of the Leader are graced with faces and names of children who have gone above and beyond the call to make their town just a little bit better.
Take for example the students at Dunstable School. They are doing good deeds around their school, and it’s helping them learn a number of values that are important to society. Seven students were rewarded for their contributions to their school environment, and were given the opportunity to have a pizza lunch with their school principal, Steven Kaplan.
What’s more important than the pizza lunch is the fact that every good deed accomplished by the students of Dunstable School will eventually lead to staff donating money to Third World countries.
As young as they are, these students will learn very valuable lessons through this program. They aren’t old enough to yet realize the impact they are having on another person’s life, a person who lives in poverty and who they will never meet, but by arming those students with the passion and values of helping others, they will hopefully carry these lessons with them throughout their lives. Who know, perhaps one day, they will inspire other children to become more other oriented.
Every school can take this lesson to heart. Good deeds are easy, and anyone can do them. You just have to have an awareness of helping out others. It can be something as simple as holding a door open for someone, or letting a person ahead of you in line. It doesn’t take any effort at all, and it goes a long way in helping you and the person at whom your actions are aimed to have a better day.
Take Dunstable School Grade 5 student Austin Golby, for instance. He was one of the lucky winners of the pizza lunch, and he won the honour by helping Kindergarten students put on their boots and hang up their crazy carpets after recess. He told the Leader he helps the younger students because he thinks they’re fun kids, and they’re nice, and that doing good deeds makes him feel good.
He didn’t have to help those students, but it was just a natural thing for him to do.
Kaplan’s crew will continue to inspire their students in the way of giving, and they deserve a great deal of recognition for their efforts to instil such values in those students. There are many other schools in the area that make similar learning a significant part of their curriculum, and the future looks bright indeed thanks to those efforts.
Parents can’t just leave it up to the schools to teach their children the importance of doing good deeds. Children learn by example, and by watching their parents. As such, parents should take some time to show their children just exactly what a good deed is, and how it can help make them feel more like a part of the community. There’s nothing quite as nice as receiving a thank you from someone after you’ve held the door open for them.
