Making Things Anew
Since the beginning of this academic year, amidst the pandemic, St. John Bosco College Battersea (SJBC), has diversified ways of ensuring that every student flourishes and develops their potential through different platforms of learning and engaging experiences. The chaplaincy team on the same hand, has championed different events within and outside the school in other to give the students some gospel experience in action.
Recently, following the call of ecological harmony by Pope Francis, we have selected six students across the year groups to learn how to build bicycles from scratch. This means that they can recycle any old bike and transform it to a new operational one, thereby, making ‘things anew’. The second week of the new, Spring Term was a full week of studious learning and experience among these students. We invited two professional bike engineers to teach our students this magnificent skill. These students exhibited some extraordinary skilful ability in the dismantling and reassembling of six old bikes and transformed them into full strong new bikes. The joy, passion, and enthusiasm shown by them were exceptional. Another piece of good news was that each person went home with his newly built bike.
This skill acquisition was organised to help our students to realise and to celebrate the hidden talents within them. In the same way, inculcating the positive attitude towards their daily usage of things. Ecologically, we would like to encourage students to develop the habit of cycling to school and around. This will help our ecosystem and provide numerous other health benefits. Through this medium, we are strengthening the principle of RUAH (respect, understanding, affection, and humour). Practically, helping them find meaning in what they are doing and the motives behind it; and to love and celebrate their strengths. Most of the participants expressed that building bikes in school has been one of the most beautiful experiences in their academic journey.
In the coming days, these six bicycle magicians, will be involved in passing their knowledge and experience to other students. Some of our students will benefit enormously from this life skill. We are also planning further opportunities for our marvellous mechanics, for example with some big bicycle shops like Halfords to give them more practical experience there during the summer holiday.
Fr. Gregory Echegwo
