Heroes and Cultural Identity Project

The Heroes-project, what did it do for me?

by Stine Fossum (a student from Brundalen, Norway)

This school year we have done a lot of projects, but especially one got stuck to my brain. The project about Heroes. It really got to me. The project enlightened us, it gave us a new perspective. My partner in the project and myself really learned something from this. The assignment was; "What is a hero to you?" We had to write 200 words about what a hero is to us and why. In addition to the 200 words we were to make a presentation of a hero or a group/organisation that we got to choose for ourselves. But that wasn't all, to motivate us, I think, the project was a part of a competition. Everybody in my class was to make a presentation and then we should vote for the two best ones. The two that presented the hero in the best way, the presentation that told everybody why exactly their hero was a hero would go on to the "final". Other countries that also were a part of the competition, I think there were 5 other countries, were going to pick out their two best. And then all of the countries would pick a winner from each country. The prize is not known yet, This maybe seems like a bad solution, that there is one winner from each country. But face the facts; not every school in Europe has the same equipment. No matter where we go we will always have the opportunity to log on to the internet.

Our project was a tribute to all fire fighters around the world. We wanted to tell everybody how important they are for the community and the world. Because there were no limit for what we could use in our presentation, besides the time limit, we could only use one minute of video and one minute of music, we got our best friend to compose some music for us. He made a melody from scratch, and allowed us to use it in the presentation. We edited the music and a video we made together, and it got pretty good, I allow myself to say. The video is about the life of an ordinary fire fighter, and what they risk to save others. The first day, his wedding, their first child, his first fire and his death.

We showed the presentation to a few people before the class got to see it, and some of them got tears in their eyes. The video got very emotional, because it makes you conscious of what fire fighters do and what they obtain in life. I think being a fire fighter gives you a lot, you get the opportunity to save someone's life, and rescue their belongings.

By telling others about the project above, they may get tempted to do the same. And that is important. Because I think that everybody should get to know the different heroes we got in this world. What a hero is different from person to person, but all and all, a hero is someone who does something unselfish for others, an acquaintance or a stranger. A person who gives something to others' lives, and doesn't demand to get something back. Gives someone other than him-or herself hope, hope that there is always something worth living for in this world. "If you can't do something for yourself, do it for someone else".

This project gave me a lot. Now I'm more observant of the things going on around me, how many every day heroes that actually exist. I pay more attention to what's happening around me, in my life. I appreciate ordinary things more.

I found the project useful just because of the opportunity to tell others the fantastic job fire fighters do. And I think it was useful because we got to work so independently and decide what to do on our own. We got more aware of what's happening in the world, and how magnificent some people actually are.