In celebration of International Women’s Day the Gym Leadership Group at Bishop Macdonell Catholic High School created A Walk Through HERstory to be observed by students and staff this week.
Set up as a gallery walk along a community trail leading into Preservation Park, A Walk Through HERstory highlights themes of this year’s International Women’s Day, as well as prominent women from around the world and Canada.
“The grade 12 gym leadership class was given an opportunity to plan various events for our school and school community. Our group was given the task to develop a school-wide event that would prove to not only be communal, but engaging and educational in a way that is COVID safe,” shared Alyssa Wells, member of the Gym Leadership Group who organized the walk. “As well as the walk, we also sent some videos we found that inspired and taught us a little more about women's history and how women across the globe are making an impact, to our schools news channel to broadcast to the school this week. The three videos we chose include a video about women's history, a poem written and spoken by a woman, and a video of women athletes today showing their talents and how they’re challenging gender norms in sport.”
Classes at Bishop Macdonell were invited to learn more about women’s rights movements, while also having a chance to get out of their classroom and take in some fresh air.
“There are many influential events and women that have shaped our society over the years, making it very hard to choose just a few. That being said, we were able to choose many remarkable women and events. For example, Kim Campbell, was one of the women we choose to include in our gallery. Kim Campbell is the first woman to be Prime Minister in Canada. This happened not too long ago, only in 1993. Which we thought was very surprising for us and many students might not know this,” shared Luca Ghizzardi, Gym Leadership Group member, adding that in addition to showcasing Campbell, the group shared stories of Jean Augustine, Nellie J. Cournoyea, and Chantal Petitclerc, among the other events and women.
Creating a COVID safe learning environment for students was key to the group choosing an outdoor activity. Being in nature has been proven to improve mental health by reducing anxiety as well as contribute to physical improvements such as immune system functioning and a boosted overall well-being. After hearing from their teacher about the opportunity to put an educational twist on a nature walk – the students leaped into action to plan the activity.
“It is very hard to do in school events now given the current situation, so we decided to create an outdoor experience that would allow for a safe and educational way to involve the school community in an event that is positive for one’s mental health. Furthermore, it was also something that could be enjoyed by people outside of the Celtic family,” shared Amber King, member of the Gym Leadership Group. “We learned about the benefits of getting into the forest and the impact it can have on your well-being even for a short period of time. We wanted to encourage classes to get out of their desks and into the woods for a wellness break.”
In addition to the walk, the group created a Kahoot, an online challenge, and shared it with each of the classes to take part in. Students complete the Kahoot which has a series of questions as a class based on the information students would have learned about during the gallery and send their scores back to the Gym Leadership teacher, seeing the class with the highest score winning a prize.
“We wanted to create something fun to engage classes to participate,” said Owen Sartor, a student organizer from the Gym Leadership Group. “It is a winnable challenge, not only because the class with the best score gets a prize, but also because anytime that you learn or educate yourself on important topics it’s a win. By participating in this kahoot and answering these questions you are showing how much you now understand, which hopefully inspires you to make a change, which is always a win.”
Creating the Walk Through HERstory, was important for the group to bring awareness to prominent women’s rights movements throughout history.
“It is especially important to bring attention to women's history as their accomplishments and contributions are sometimes overlooked, go unnoticed or do not get the coverage they deserve. By displaying women in history, it reminds us that we all have the ability to make a significant change in this world; a change that will benefit the greater good of all people, just as influential women, past and present, have done,” said Wells. “It was a goal of ours to create an opportunity for positive discussion and dialogue in our school community.”
The Walk Through HERstory will be available to observe in Preservation Park until Monday, March 15. For more information on special projects and events at Bishop Macdonell Catholic High School please visit their website and follow them on Twitter.