Throughout the duration of Horizon, one of the focus areas has been working to support the local community from a social justice perspective, during Altruism Hour.
During the course of Altruism Hour, the Horizon students collaborated with the Social Justice team and worked hard to plan activities for the OLMC Eco Justice Day Fair, which encourages school involvement and awareness in environmental matters. Students were asked to bring in a Nude Food lunchbox on the day, in exchange for tokens, granting them access to the activities at lunchtime. The activities allowed students to decorate their own eco-cookie, repurpose an old jar, make an alfalfa seed pet, plant their own succulent, decorate a terracotta pot, and swap their pre-loved clothes and books. In the lead up to this day, the Horizon class brainstormed and created activities for the Fair, along with making a budget and calculating the costs of implementing their ideas. Additionally, we worked on marketing the day to the remainder of the school, by speaking at a range of year level assemblies, creating posters to be put up around the school and creating SIMON announcements to inform students.
It was wonderful to see the day being such a success as a stampede of Year 7s were seen sprinting from the Centenary Building at 1.15pm sharp to line up for eco-cookies. Subsequently, 98 out of 100 terracotta plants were painted, filled with soil and succulents. Many students also went home with alfalfa sock pets, pre-loved t-shirts and books and painted jars.
Overall, Horizon’s Altruism Hour has been a rewarding and positive experience that has allowed us to have some fun whilst learning about social justice issues and giving back to our community.
Tiffany M. 9GTA and Amelia C. 9MKY
