MEANINGFUL SERVICE IN ACTION

This semester, a new CAS initiative has enabled BBIS students to build meaningful connections beyond our school community. Thanks to a parent contact, BBIS established a partnership with the CJD refugee centre in Wannsee, creating opportunities for students to engage in authentic service and make a positive impact.

An enthusiastic group of Grade 11 students embraced this opportunity through CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service), a core element of the IB Diploma Programme. Their projects focused on tutoring, sports and gardening. Working alongside children and residents at the centre, they shared their skills, built relationships and contributed to community life in practical and meaningful ways.

We are grateful to the team at the CJD refugee centre for their warm welcome and support throughout the project. As the students prepare to continue their work over the summer and into Grade 12, we hope this marks the beginning of a long and rewarding partnership for everyone involved.

Gardening group

The main task of the gardening group at the Wannsee refugee centre was to design and create a working garden that the children and other residents could help care for. Our project consisted of two parts: planting flowers to brighten the area near the entrance and building garden beds for edible plants such as fruits, vegetables and herbs.

Planting the flowers was a larger task than we had initially expected. The centre had received an abundance of donations from a nearby hardware store, including around 40 different flowers and many varieties of edible plants. Clearing the weeds from the designated area made the planting hard work, and we spent multiple hours on this task. However, working in a group allowed us to split up and assemble the garden beds at the same time.

One of the students in our group reached out to the BBIS PTA to ask for donations of gardening items. Thanks to their generous response, we received both soil and plants, and we are extremely grateful to everyone who contributed to this project. The students also purchased other necessary equipment, such as the garden beds themselves, large bags of soil and seeds. We thank the school for supporting this project and funding these items.

Finally, the individuals at the refugee centre were eager to be part of this project and very excited about the outcome. We would like to thank them for all their help and support and look forward to continuing the garden development after the summer break.

Harlee, Angelina, Beomki, Daniel, Cameron and Enakshi

Tutoring group

The main task of the tutoring group was to provide a space where any of the children at the refugee centre could come for extra help with their schoolwork. So far, Dasha and I have mainly tutored two children from Nigeria. Since they are among the few residents who speak English, we can help them with any subject without a language barrier.

We do various activities with these children. Our sessions offer them an opportunity to catch up on schoolwork while also providing time to play games and talk to people from outside the centre. To connect with the children and help develop their memory and motor skills, we have played games such as Memory, as well as various building games. We also asked if they would like any new games to play during our sessions, and we are currently working on finding games to donate to the centre.

Overall, we have created a fun and comfortable learning environment that allows the children to expand their knowledge and develop new skills.

Claire and Dasha

Sports group

Our main involvement at the Wannsee refugee centre was spending time with the children through sports and games, especially football and table tennis. Each week, we strove to create a fun and welcoming atmosphere where the children could relax, stay active and enjoy themselves outside their normal routines.

Football was usually the most popular activity, as it allowed many children to join in at once, work together and simply have fun. We also played a lot of table tennis, which became a great way to connect with the children in smaller groups and build their confidence through friendly matches.

Overall, our goal was not only to organise activities but also to make the children feel included, supported and comfortable. It was incredibly rewarding to see how quickly they became excited to play with us each time we visited.

Vova, Stas and Rynat