School is a huge part of our lives in childhood. In school, you make friends, learn more about the world and expand your knowledge of vast topics. For me, school is such a fun experience, and I’m going to talk about the reason why it is.
Belonging. The actual definition of belonging is “an affinity for a place or situation”. At my school, there are numerous ways in which one can foster a sense of belonging. In a grade, all of the students are split into three different sides, so all of your classes are with the same people on your side. This is already a way to feel like you belong, in a smaller group of students. Then, to split up the sides, there are 9 different advisories, each one consisting of 12 people. There are so many ways to feel belonging in a community.
Recently, we also had an assembly about the topic of belonging at SAS, and it was really interesting to listen to. They started by showing us some data on how many people felt like they belonged in SAS, and it was quite surprising. In the early 2000s, less than 40% of students felt like they belonged in SAS, and from then on they worked to improve that percentage. They added more play spaces, more areas to connect, activities during breaks, a higher staff-to-student ratio and more. These all have now led to just over 75% of students feeling a sense of belonging.
For me, I love school and truly do feel like I belong at SAS. I have extremely amazing friends and fantastic teachers. I’m part of school activities like the middle school play, festival choir, MUN, Math Olympiad and more. Doing all of these activities along with having my friends and teachers makes me feel like I belong in school.
I think apart from all of these things, another one of the biggest reasons is because of common values. SAS encourages compassion, kindness, honesty, fairness, respect and responsibility. When all of the students follow and respect these values, it makes the community a better place and can be a huge factor in finding a sense of belonging.
I found a really beautiful quote that says “A sense of belonging is the quiet reassurance that no matter where we go or who we become, there is always a place where we are seen, valued, and accepted. It anchors us in love and connection, reminding us that life's greatest strength lies in knowing we are never alone." I love this quote because it just shows how having a sense of belonging is truly so important in life. It’s the reason why we feel happy and content in life. Without it, our lives would be miserable. I believe that having a true sense of belonging is very important, and I hope that all of you also can understand the importance of having a sense of belonging in our lives.
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