IT'S YOUR CAREER 

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Land Mines 

---

Tell that to the students at Centre Wellington District High School, in Elora, Ontario - they might be able to tell you a thing or two. 

For an entire semester in 1996, land mines became the focus for almost every subject at school: 

• Drama - students wrote and produced a play called Lives in the Balance about land mines and pesticide poisoning in developing countries; the play toured to area schools 
• Environmental Science- students learned about how mine infestation can prevent food production and the impact that this has on a population 
• English - land mines were used as the subject area to learn about using the internet for research purposes 
• Mathematics - land mines examples were used in problems and tests 
• French - the study of land mines was used to expand vocabulary 
• Physical Education - students took part in a "trust walk" an outdoor simulation game featuring paper land mines 

CWDHS raised about $2,500 by organizing car washes, a euchre tournament and other events. The money raised was used to help disarm land mines and to provide funds for prostheses for land mine survivors. 

Political activism: 

Students participated in letter writing campaigns and gathered hundreds of signatures for a petition in support of the campaign to ban land mines. 

How did they get so involved? 

Richard Neff, teacher/librarian at the school became aware of the land mines crisis through his volunteer involvement with Project Ploughshares. He arranged for the incorporation of the issue into the school's curriculum. In total, forty-five teachers added land mines to their teaching material. Mr. Neff also organized a school assembly in May at which two members of the Canadian armed forces 2nd Field Engineer Regiment showed students how land mine defusing is done and members from the War Amputations of Canada spoke about Canadians injured by land mines. 

What Can Your School Do? 

Centre Wellington District Highschool is not alone.  The students of St. Elizabeth School in Ottawa launched a campaign called Students Against Landmines and have been working with the United Nations Schools Demining Schools  project.   Check out both sites.