Central Journal 2
Jan 28th Creating Community Unity

Shylene met with Yvonne the liaison for Craigdarroch Castle today. They generously donated two "Craigdarrock- The Story of the Dunsmuir Castle" books to the project. They have also offered a tour of the castle for the whole enrichment class. Great start for this neighbourhood's Community Unity.

Later the same morning two students, Savanna and Deanna, joined Shylene and Mrs. Taylor for a visit to the Craigdarroch Care Home. We wanted to create Community Unity between the youth and elders in Central's neighbourhood. We wanted to talk with these seniors to get their ideas for the design portion of this project.

There is come great history in this house starting from the date of the house it self, 1903, and through its residences. We spend the morning with six lovely women, all of whom where at least in their 70's. Christina Scott one of the homes caregivers helped lead the workshop. We asked the ladies about what they thought community meant. And how community had changed in their lifetime.

*They told us about the tradition of community dances and pot lucks, where everyone in the community came together and celebrated one another. The parents, children, grandparents and other family plus all other neighbours and important community leaders all gathered to have fun and enjoy each other. This was a very fond memory for many of the ladies.

*They also talked about the idea of an ivy plant. How it strong and tenacious.
How it can regenerate itself. How it is out reaching and transcends generations and traditions. We all agreed this was a great design idea for the project.

* We talked about the importance of time to create unity. How it takes us all slowing down long enough to create relationships. Allowing a unity to form between the participants. With this idea we though it would be great to create a monthly visit between a few Central students and the seniors of the care home. How this simple effort can create lasting friendships and bridge the generation gap.

Then we took time to talk one on one with a few of the seniors to hear about some of their life stories:

· Ada Carlson a 98 year old women. Born in Nelson BC, moved to Vancouver when she married, raised her children there. Then in her retirement moved to Saltspring Island and then some time later moved to the care home here in Victoria. It was very moving for all of us to meet someone of her years, as none of us had ever known anyone her age before.

Elizabeth Walther- 77 years old resident, most happy to share with us. . She was born and raised in Waterford, Ireland in the 1920's. She went to a convent school where she lived and returned home for weekends and holidays. She told us about how her mother insisted she went to school. She was on of few girls at that time in the world to receive a formal education. She told us about her hobbies as a girl and a sport she played called Comatie, which she said was like hockey. She said the children liked to play this game of stick and ball as it gave them the opportunity to hit the nuns. We all laughed very hard about this. It is funny how some things change while others stay the same.
Elizabeth shared many memories from her family life. Stories of the Sunday walks with her father. When he taught her and her siblings about the fern and fauna of the area. He owned a sawmill and so trees held a very special place in his heart. How he was very fond of the ocean and they would often take day trips to the coast.
She told of how when she finished school with her matriculation exams (final test to finish school, aprox. Grade 11 equivalent), she married a young English engineer and joined the English army where she was a NCO- non-commissioned officer.
She shared much with us over our visit and we very much enjoyed her energy and vitality for life.

· Irene McKellor- A lovely lady in her 70's has lived in Victoria her whole life. In the 1920 her family owned Fernwood Meat Market on the corner of Fernwood and Gladstone. She talked about her marriage in 1943 and how much Victoria has changed in her lifetime.

At the end of our wonderful visit, we offered for some of the residences to join us at the school to work on the mosaic. Now Mrs. Taylor will look into getting the Boys and Girls club van to pick up the ladies and bring them to the school. Our community unity is happening as we hoped.

Very great community experience. Very Very Great

Journal from the Enrichment Class

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An Interview with Gordon Friesen

As a visual artist, specializing in interpretive illustration, Mr. Friesen was attracted to our mosaic project. He learned that the school was open to people from the community coming in and interacting with teachers, students, mosaic professionals (Len and Val Stubel from Artisan Tiles), other artists and interested individuals from our community. He met Shylene and became very excited when he found he could learn and work on an actual mosaic here at Central School where his son, Simon, is a student.

Our mosaic group congratulates Mr. Friesen for coming in and strengthening our community. We encourage everyone to give it a shot too!

Interviewed by Michelle Meiklejohn

This is me with my mini mosaic. Mrs. Beacham gave us a little piece of graph paper and some pastels to do a drawing. This was to give us a feel for putting big media in a small confined space. It was also to show some of our ideas. This was my idea.

by Finlay Smith

Hi! My name is Christin Cropp. My friends and I and lots of other people are making a mosaic for our school! The mosaic is about community. We are having lots of fun. But, it's not easy; it takes lots of time and effort.

Central's 14th Workshop Journal - Final Days

Central's 13th Workshop Journal - Spring Break -The Work Continues

Central's 12th Workshop Journal - Spring Break

Central's 11th Workshop Journal - Almost Done...

Central's 10th Workshop Journal - Big Day.. lots of Activity

Central's 9th Workshop Journal - Parent Teacher Day

Central's 8th Workshop Journal -Building Day 3.. Coming Along

Central's 7th Workshop Journal - Mosaic is looking Great...

Central's 6th Workshop Journal -Building Gets Started

Central's 5th Workshop Journal -Design Selection and Layout

Central's 4th Workshop Journal - Craigdarroch Castle Tour

Central's 3rd Workshop Journal - community design workshop

Central's 2nd Workshop Journal - visit to the seniors care home and special guests to help with the project design.

First Workshop Journal in enrichment project at Central Middle School.