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Voice

By Isabelle (Grade 7)

I open my mouth and words flow through it
I smile at what I used to be: shy, closed off, silent
I have entered a new world, filled with music and friendship
Voice has brought colour to my black and white life,
It has given me a chance to be part of something
A chance I have taken.

 

What I Have Learned

by Alana ( Grade 8 )

Through the sweltering heat and between the red fire leaves there is a school. And in this school there exists a great desire. To live. Laugh. And learn. The students that come to this school become immersed in education, in culture, and in each other. I live at this school. I say that I live there because living is learning, and everyday I come there to be taught and to teach others what I have learned. And throughout my thirteen years of living, I have never felt that I have learned as much as I have at Voice.
I have learned compassion and perspective. I have learned the freedom of speech and the joy of opinion. I have learned about oppression and attitude and injustice. I have learned about cruelty and peace and suffering beyond words. I have learned about success and loss. Bliss. Love. Equality. I have learned about the pieces of culture, humanity, passion, and variety that make up this world.

At this very moment I ask myself just what holds our world together. How have we all managed to stay alive? How is it possible that here are so many of us who are ignored? Why are we so blind to the rest of the world? I know why. Because we choose not to listen. We choose to shut ourselves away in these tiny boxes, where mothers are baking cookies and fathers are reading newspapers in front of fireplaces and where little Tommy and tiny Sara are dancing together on the prickly grass on the front lawn. But this is not reality. Or at least this is not my reality. voice has opened my eyes and allowed me to see the true colors of the world we are all a part of.

Now, more than ever, I feel that today is a new day. It’s a day to start DOING something. I’m tired of talking about crucial issues and promising myself that I’ll make a change but not actually getting up and truly making difference. But this year, things are going to change. This year I have a whole entire school to back me up. What I’ll do, I don’t know. But I want to contribute somehow. And without the knowledge I have gained here at Voice, I would never have believed that I could help to change the world.
I have learned about the physical and emotional aspects of the world. I have learned about settlement patterns and edge cities and John A. MacDonald. I have learned about integers and French conjugations and the Water Cycle. And I am glad I have learned those things. But for me, the emotional elements of our international society are so much more interesting, because often they are the root of so many worldly issues.

In the last two years I have felt better and more confident than ever before. and there is a simple answer why I feel this way.

I learned how to be myself.