Middle Years Programme

MYP Caring Community

The IB Mission is to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through education that builds intercultural understanding and respect. (https://www.ibo.org/about-the-ib/mission/). This is certainly apparent in the Oakleigh Grammar Year 10 Personal Project topics of Mary Alexopoulos, Mattea Georges and Gabriel who are CARING, having chosen topics that show their empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others.

Mary describes her project goals in the following way: 

As a person who values creativity, I am constantly on the lookout for opportunities to express my artistic side and acquire new skills. Although I've always been drawn to the art of crocheting, I've yet to take the plunge and learn it. Thus, when contemplating a topic for my personal project, I naturally gravitated towards crocheting. Additionally, I have a strong desire to give back to society and assist those in need, which has led me to participate in several events such as market days and fundraisers during my time at Oakleigh Grammar. Being able to contribute to my community in this manner brings me immense joy and a deep sense of fulfilment. As a result, I decided to incorporate this aspect into my personal project, which aims to crochet clothes to donate to those in need. In essence, it is my passion for creativity and community service that have inspired me to focus my personal project on this topic.

Mattea’s inspiration is equally beautiful, she aims to explore her faith and how the lives of saints can inspire us to become better people. She describes her project as being about her dedication and immense love for my religion (Greek Orthodox Christianity). 

Moreover, I am motivated to learn more about my religion and create handcrafted Greek Orthodox icons of God and peoples guardian angels (their saints) which i will donate to them to provide them with a sense of comfort, love and security and help the broader community, as well as myself, on our religious journeys. As I have a keen interest in my religion, I am inspired to investigate the following:

How does our immense love for God and the notion of having faith help cure us from our ailments; e.g. brain injury, cancer, heart disease, or help us see progression in life? How do icons provide people with so much comfort, love and safety? What role does faith play in our lives? Awesome work Mattea!

Gabriel described how his trip to Bali inspired his personal project: “My mum and two of her friends went to Bali in October last year and they were walking on the beach when they saw some dogs and how they were treated. Ever since then she has been thinking about the dogs and how to help them and that is why we took a family vacation with my mum's friends’ family. When I was in Bali every road we took we saw stray dogs and this made me feel a bit sad because I had no idea about the number of stray dogs there are. So my mum and her friend are going to make a website where people can foster a dog but it remains at a vets in Bali where they can look after it. So my idea for the personal project is to address the current situation for homeless dogs in Bali, which is actually something our family is involved with in real life.”

Well done Mary, Mattea & Gabriel!