The students of St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School in Parramatta auctioned off their SEATs to raise money for the needy people of Vietnam and Cambodia through their connections with Catholic Mission and the Jesuit Outreach Centre for Refugees.
Here are some of the Year 5 student’s reflections:
The S.E.A.T Project was very exciting. Every student in Yr5 was allowed to be part of a group and constructed a SEAT made out of bamboo. The SEAT was very fun to construct and taught us to work as a team with people that we normally wouldn’t work with. The story of SEAT originated in Vietnam, where a girl had a dream that she wanted to come true. Our participation in the S.E.A.T Project has raised over $800 for the homeless, poor and poverty stricken citizens of Vietnam and Cambodia. Yr5 think that all should have a chance to make, design and sell these SEATs. The challenges we faced were; working with different students, letting others try and accepting others ideas. Now we have realised that the S.E.A.T Project has brought all of Yr5 closer together.”
Alanah and Siwoo
The S.E.A.T Project is not only about making the SEAT and painting it, but instead it’s about learning about real causes that affect many people’s lives and thinking of ways to stop these issues. It was a learning experience and also a great bonding exercise. Together we became stronger as one, whilst constructing and creating our stools. Our knowledge blossomed as we were intrigued by each and every problem in the world. We also listened to what the other groups created and the information got stuck in our brains and will never come out. Working with other students who were not entirely what you would call your “ best friend’” is, and can be quite a challenge. Our grade was surprisingly good at it because we learned to respect and care for each other thanks to our wonderful teachers and parents. We absolutely loved the S.E.A.T Project and we hope that other schools can experience the same amazing things that we have just experienced.”
Joseph and Zara
We both enjoyed constructing & building our SEAT. It was very challenging to hammer the dowels into the SEAT to make it stable and stand straight up. It was fun painting and creating the SEAT. We are very honoured to be the only school in the Parramatta Diocese to take part in the S.E.A.T Project and we had a fun time during the silent auction and presentation which raised money for our school and Catholic Mission. So a very big ‘thank you’ for this opportunity to be a part of the S.E.A.T Project.”
Cyarra & Marcus
The S.E.A.T Project was such an amazing experience. Whilst constructing and designing our SEATs we were given a great opportunity to work as a team and cooperate with others. We designed our SEATs to raise awareness for different charities. The story of SEAT as well as the Project has taught us that our world is in need. Some challenges we faced was working with a team for some people had different opinions. We think that every school should get the opportunity to be involved in the S.E.A.T Project as it was a fun learning experience.”
Chanel and Annabelle
This year we have been honoured to participate in the S.E.A.T Project. During this term of education we have learnt about teamwork and how to make a difference to the world while creating some SEATs with only a few items such as dowels and a hammer. We had a lot of fun creating this SEAT and working with people we don’t know very well.
We all followed the same steps but had different causes to explain. We worked as a team, even though we all had fights, but will still got through it together. We were happy to have had this opportunity. We had so much fun during this wonderful experience!”
Christopher and Afia
The S.E.A.T Project taught us that SEAT stands for S-sustainability, E-education, A-art and T-teamwork. While building the SEAT we had no instructions whatsoever but we only had one hammer and a few dowels. The only thing that we found hard was teamwork, because sometimes we didn’t agree on the same things as each other. Sometimes we hogged the tools and chair, but after that we all found out that we have our differences, and we all had different tactics to complete the SEAT with a smile on our faces. We finally got to the painting part and everything went well. We all had fun and all agreed to a fair amount of everything. Once we made our speech, everything couldn’t be better. We all did our part and it was all done EQUALLY!!! We loved making the SEAT and we were honoured to find out that we were the first grade in the whole Parramatta Diocese to do it. Thank you!”
Joya and Joshua
A few unidentified, but gorgeous quotes!:
Sustainability – it is made of a strong material bamboo.
Education – fundraises money towards Vietnam to provide the lost education they have been lacking.
Art – children design parts of the SEAT that relates to their chosen cause.
Teamwork – work in teams to accomplish a great difference to our world.This is a great opportunity for children to show their true capabilities and to change the world for the better, using one simple object, the SEAT. SEAT comes with a story book called, SEAT the little stool that could. It is about a stool that thought he was nothing compared to the other objects on display in a shop. A butterfly accompanied him in his journey, which SEAT soon realised that he was more than just a SEAT.”
When we started to put this SEAT together it took a lot of time and effort and now I realise that the SEAT parts represent us building a strong relationship with each other and that is called TEAMWORK.
Our SEATs helped people around the world because we raised money by having a silent auction at school and it really helped someone in this world. It may have helped some children with better EDUCATION.”
Our favourite part about the S.E.A.T Project was selling our SEATs because all of the money was going towards a good cause and that made us feel like we were doing a good thing.The S.E.A.T Project was a great experience and we wish we could do it again.”
We now know that we can change the world with one move.”
