Jun 12th, 2008
Lindsay Chung, Comox Valley Record (www.comoxvalleyrecord.com)
Passing homeless people on the streets, seven École Aspen Park Middle School students didn’t just keep going and forget what they saw.
Instead, they brought their classmates’ attention to the issue when they chose homelessness in the Comox Valley as the topic of their Grade 9 English class media project.
Kyle Collins, Tristan Steven, Karver Everson, Karlee Holm, Natasha Guillo, Buena Laporte and Erika Lampron created a media presentation about homelessness and shared it with other ninth-graders at the school.
Guillo came up with the idea to do the project about homelessness after she attended a meeting with Patricia Foster of the Comox Valley Homelessness Task Force.
“I thought it was an interesting issue,” she said. “Driving around, you see a lot of people but not everybody sees them. I thought not a lot of people notice homeless people when I bring it up, so I thought it would be kind of cool if we brought it up in our media studies.”
“We thought we could address the issue,” added Collins.
To learn about the issue, the group asked people their opinions on homelessness and interviewed Helen Boyd, a board member of Dawn to Dawn: Action on Homelessness Society and a member of the task force, and Barbara Price, the vice-chair of the Comox Valley Regional District and director of Area B (Lazo North).
They also spent a day in Courtenay and took pictures to illustrate the situation.
“It was surprising,” said Holm. “When you are looking for it, it’s easy to find.”
The students read the Mayor’s Task Force on Homeless in the Comox Valley report and information about housing.
“It was very interesting because you don’t see a lot of people on the streets, but a lot of people don’t have homes and they go from place to place couch surfing,” said Holm.
Guillo was surprised by the number of homeless people supporting children.
“We found out a lot we didn’t know,” said Collins.
For their presentation, the students used a video and PowerPoint with facts and their interviews and had booklets filled with facts to explain the situation in the Comox Valley.
To add impact, Everson dressed as a homeless person, and they used a song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, written by Holm’s brother.
The students learned a lot while working on the project.
“For me, probably, the biggest thing was the couch surfing,” said Holm. “In reality, it’s like the most homeless you can get without being in the streets. You have no security; your nights are never certain.”
“I was kind of shocked at the number of homeless in the Valley,” said Guillo, noting the report stated there were 250.
The students will all take away something from the project.
“Never underestimate how homelessness can be affected by one person,” said Collins. “Every person helps.”
Holm and Laporte agreed.
“It makes you really grateful for what you have,” added Guillo.
The group enjoyed learning more about homelessness.
Everson liked taking photographs, and Steven liked walking around town.
The students thank everyone who provided them with information.
“They were so willing to do it,” said Collins.
They are pleased with the project.
“I’m glad we chose that project,” said Holm. “Ours was one that really stood out because it was different … and because it was local.”
They all agreed they went into the project hoping to address the issue of homelessness and open people’s eyes.