The social responsibility project is a priority for everyone at Üsküdar SEV Schools. The purpose of these projects is to develop the social consciousness of our students from a young age, to provide awareness of social needs and to be sensitive to the needs of less fortunate individuals. While helping with social responsibility activities is important, our main goal is to ensure that our students are active in the process and to keep this process alive.

In line with this aim, the first step was to explain the purpose of our social responsibility Project with our students.  While working on the values of respect, patience, and responsibility in our 3S Project, students were told not only to simply learn these values, but also apply them in their lives.  The children talked about how to apply the sequence and start a new project for this, and they participated with curiosity and interest in the project presentation. The presentation began with a story about a rabbit, and talked about the values of respect, patience and responsibility. The children watched and listened to the story of the rabbit played out on a table theater without blinking their eyes. After they were asked what they thought about the theater they’d watched and how it made them feel. Among the 7 classes, the three common answers were: helping, sharing, and think about the goodness of others. Following the story, a presentation was given reflecting the stages of the social responsibility project made last year in the kindergarten.

As a SEV Üsküdar presentation, we explained that the project is prepared with students, teachers and parents, making a difference by touching the lives of others and considering the goodness of children. The children excitedly said they wanted to start the project as soon as possible.  First, we told the students that we would find a school where students needed support. Once we found the school, they were asked what they needed. Our students’ responsibility would be to meet the material needs. The needs might include a thermos, maybe a pencil or a book.

We started thinking about how these needs could be met. Together the students decided to make products with their own hands, their own labor, and their own hearts. This idea was very exciting for the children and they planned what to do right away.  Our children are starting to prepare their products with their own effort. In the meantime, the needs of the school they are supporting will be determined.  After our products are completed, the students will have the happiness of bringing their own materials home and reading to their parents about which materials they will need to bring to school. Students will remember this special process with the products they make and take home, they will remember how happy they were to touch someone else’s life. The materials they need to bring to school will be carefully placed in the boxes prepared in our corridors. When the boxes are full, students will close the boxes with their own hands, and with excitement, they will wait for the boxes to go to where they are needed.