Last Friday was a busy day at AV for our MYP Service as Action and DP CAS students.While we had students from different grades help getting everything ready for the AV Mile, we also had two other major events happening on that day.

In the morning, our Grade 6 and Grade 7 students reflected on their eating habits, learned about different kinds of food and discussed healthy snack options in small groups. Our young nutritionists went to a nearby grocery store to buy organic vegetables and gluten-free nibbles in order to prepare a small, healthy snack buffet for our “CAS Cafe” later that day – an event that brought two groups of Grade 11 and Grade 12 students together. By having our MYP students learn about healthy snack options and providing a service for their community, our MYP students learned the importance of taking care of their bodies and showing respect to others.

During an extended lunch, our DP students engaged in a collaborative CAS workshop with our friends from Campus Wien West in which they made new connections, exchanged ideas, and brainstormed initiatives for future service-related collaborations. It was great to see so many young, brilliant minds at work coming up with exciting projects in order to either raise awareness of global issues that are dear to their hearts, or help make their local community just a bit better through their service.

In the late afternoon, a small group of Grade 11 students volunteered at a local soup kitchen and emergency accommodation in the twelfth district. They learned about the struggles of homelessness and how they can support this community with just a few hours of their time. Together, they prepared three dishes using food that has been donated by nearby supermarkets, served food to people in need, and helped clean up afterward. It was an eye-opening and extremely rewarding evening for all of them and a great way to learn about an issue in Vienna and other parts of the world that may not be so obvious to all of us.

Outstanding community effort: AV Action club was able to raise 270 Euro to support Earth Alliance, a well-known environmental organization. We thank everyone for coming to our stand to buy popcorn and refreshing  lemonade. Stay tuned for more events. Next time we also plan to have a new popcorn flavor – caramel with extra butter and sea salt.