Last week, Pam Parks’ Grade 4/5 class at Meadowlands Public School
received a visit from a real somebody in the Ottawa community, the Rabbi Reuven Bulka, who
introduced them to a real nobody.
“Nobody” is the doll with no face and no features that the
students will turn into a “somebody” throughout the year with the Who Is Nobody
(WIN) character education program.
Each student will get to take Nobody home for a week and
perform an act of service. Then the students will add something to Nobody to
commemorate their good deed. By the end of the year, Nobody will be fully
dressed and have a face and personality imparted from these character building
tasks.
Bulka had heard about the WIN program from Rotarian Dave
Palmer on his radio program. He decided to purchase a kit and donate it to a
school and Palmer connected him to Meadowlands to receive the kit.
Bulka got the kids thinking about character by asking them
how they would make someone they met feel like a somebody and whether they had
ever felt like a nobody.
“This year, you guys and gals, are going to make Nobody into
a somebody,” he told the class.
Parks got the kids excited to meet Nobody with notes on the
blackboard counting down to his or her arrival. (The children have yet to
choose a name and a gender for Nobody.)
“I think Nobody will look quite different at the end of the
year,” Parks said, and promised to invite Bulka back to see the completed
version.
This will be the first time a Meadowlands class participates
in the WIN program.