COLLINSVILLE
A student's view of resilience
We spoke to students at Collinsville’s four schools participating in The Resilience Project - St John Bosco Catholic School, Scottville State School, Collinsville State School and Collinsville State High - to find out how they’ve been learning and practising the program pillars of gratitude, empathy and mindfulness.
Here's what they said.
St John Bosco Catholic School
JUSTIN, GRADE 6
“We all participate in yoga and meditation, and we developed problem managing skills, communication skills and how emotions influence our behaviour. We have also been learning how to view other people’s perspectives. I liked when we did the yoga because it was calming and relaxing, and kind of fun. Classmates were usually crazy after lunchtime but after we did yoga we were calm and relaxed.”
NICK, GRADE 1
“We’re doing some colouring in because it makes me feel green (happy, zones of regulation). Sometimes we play on the iPad (and that) helps calm me down. Beau is my best friend and so I help Beau because that gives me good feelings.”
CHYANNE, GRADE 2
“We are doing a bucket filling activity where we write nice things about our friends to fill their buckets. I also added lots of colours. I like it because it’s fun and it makes me feel good because I’m being kind to my friends.”
Scottville State School
NATE, GRADE 6
“Gratitude is making us really grateful for the things we have, like when our parents give us stuff at Christmas like a boat or fishing gear. I use it so much, it’s a favourite activity for me. It’s made me more grateful for the things I do have in my life and not what I don’t have, and I can recognise it.”
KINGSTON, GRADE 6
“We’ve been more aware of others around us. Someone could be going through something, and we should just try to be aware of it. When I go motorbike riding, I might be in my backyard, but I also might have neighbours who may not like the noise, so I have to be mindful. Afterwards, it’s good to just have a drink of water and relax for a second so I don’t annoy my family.”
ALEXIE, GRADE 6
“We were learning about empathy and how we can feel for others. For example, if they are sad we’ve been learning to see that they are sad and how to help them. We’ve been learning ways to do it more often. We’ve been using strategies to cheer people up if they’re sad, like say a good compliment or ask how their day is going, and that helps them.”
Collinsville State School
LACIE, GRADE 6
“There was one activity where we had to write positive things about each other, and then we’ve been working more towards that because it’s something that’s easy for us. We’ve also done a journal activity where we find out something you’re grateful for and point at it and say “dis”.”
PATSY, GRADE 6
“Some people have been more aware of their surroundings and trying to act less self-centered. Mr G usually just puts some relaxing music on (after breaks) and we usually just draw or talk to our friends before science, (and that’s making a lot of difference) because a lot of kids go out and when they come back in, it’s really hard to focus.”
Collinsville State High School
MAKKA, GRADE 7
“In class we’ve been going around asking people what they’re grateful for, and then we’ve been trying to relate that back to them. So, people like Kyan and Kodi have been saying they’re both grateful for their parents and we’ve been relating that back to what they give us and what they grant us. I really think it helped our classmates for the better, I enjoy the freedom of talking about what you want to talk about and not being judged for it.”
KYAN, GRADE 7
“An activity we’ve done for empathy is go around the class and ask each other how life is at home and tried to relate back to how we would feel in their shoes. There’s actually quite a lot of people who don’t do so well and have struggled, but we don’t see that on a day-to-day basis. We try to treat them how we would like to be treated in that situation.”
KODI, GRADE 7
“We did a mindfulness activity where we got random objects around the school and in our classroom, and we picked three to feel it and see if we saw or felt a different thing with our eyes shut. That relaxed us a bit along with relaxing music, and it took our minds off everything else because we only had to focus on one thing which helps me a lot. I’m using that in my day-to-day life.”
The Resilience Project, which champions the pillars of gratitude, empathy, and mindfulness, is being rolled out to the town’s four schools in collaboration with the Collinsville Community Association and the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys.
The Resilience Project in Collinsville is funded by the Commonwealth and State Disaster Recovery funding arrangements, under the Community Development Program.
For more information, visit cowboys.com.au/community/the-resilience-project/
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