In my 21 years of life, I believe that each day has presented itself with a new learning experience. Whether it is regarding school, relationships, hobbies, myself, and so on, I truly believe that we as humans never stop learning as long as we live whether we realize it or not. To pick just one learning experience that stands out to me is difficult, but an experience that stands out to me is my grade 12 leadership class with Mr. Wiebe. Within this class we did many different events and activities around the school, along with the community, one of these activities being a Halloween-themed carnival we put on for the elementary school up the street. Part of the gig with this carnival was with a partner we had to create and run a station, along with dressing up in a Halloween costume to fit in with all the kids in theirs. Come lunchtime anyone around would have seen a group of around 30 high school kids all dressed up in Halloween costumes walking up the street with candy and props to put on an elementary school Halloween carnival, myself dressed up in a cow onesie. As the afternoon went on and the kids filtered through the gym playing all of our different games, interacting with us, and telling us anything and everything. A little girl came up to me and gave me a hug, thanking me for putting this carnival on for the school and for how much fun she had participating. This moment is a moment that I have never forgotten about. Although it can seem like such a minuscule moment to many, to me it taught me that no matter how old or small a task may seem to some, the experience and effect that it can have on others can leave a major impact. I felt as if at that moment instead of being just some high school students helping out an elementary school, we were more like a community helping one another out. My class put that carnival on in hopes that the kids would have a fun enjoyable afternoon, when in reality I think we all learned more from the kids that afternoon than they did from us, teaching us that no matter what age we are we can always learn from somebody else no matter what their age is.
Hi Megan! Thank you for sharing your story! What an important takeaway! These little big moments fulfill our life and make it meaningful! It is so true that ” we can always learn from somebody else no matter what their age is!” I wonder what learning theory could be applied to this carnival experience!? Even though it was organized mainly for fun, children still learned something through the games and building community!