Laura Harrison, a teacher at Dover Bay Secondary School recently presented her class with a Neighbourhood Heroes certificate that read, "I nominated this Grade 11/12 Leadership class (first ever at Dover Bay) because of their incredible gift to inspire others through their hard work, smiles and sincerity. They are truly making a difference in our school and community as they "Spread The Love" each and every day. These amazing students have demonstrated that they have the desire and the power to lead the way by setting a positive example for others."

Over the past four years, I have had the opportunity to visit virtually every Grade 6 and Grade 10 class in School District #68 and I can tell you that this generation has many more extraordinary kids than in mine did ... and there at least as many extraordinary teachers.

Today's kids have much more challenging courses that we had; they face many more pressures outside school; do much more community service than we did and more of them seem to have part time jobs. Their time management skills are amazing.

Sure there are exceptions and you may know some kids that don't live up to that description but, take a closer look, today's kids are just fine thank you.

Laura Harrison's class is a great example of the quality of today's kids.

Each of her students designed and implemented a personal project that would make a difference in their school or community. In the process, of course, they got back more than they gave so then, in turn, they had even more to give ... and you can feel that generosity of spirit the moment you walk into the classroom.

The simplest and most powerful project these kids did was based on a "Smile And Say Hello" idea.

Two of the students decided they were going to make a point of befriending kids who tended to eat lunch alone. Soon the rest of the class expanded the idea so thirty kids were walking around the school smiling at everyone and saying hello. Do you think that made a difference?

That reminds me of former Neighbourhood Hero, Roxanne Allen, who began to change her Victoria Road neighbourhood by, "... walking around with my head up and a smile on my face", a simple and open invitation to communicate.

Can you imagine how this community would change if we all did that? We'd have tourists traveling here from around the world just to smile back at us!

Some of the other student projects included: a pet food drive for the SPCA, sewing teddy bears, fleece hats and scarves for kids who were staying at Haven House, a project that collected 168 shoe boxes filled with presents for Operation Christmas Child, visits to primary schools to help prepare students for high school, teaching swimming to handicapped children, organizing a "Hoops For Heart" project that raised $800, a used clothing drive for the Salvation Army, coaching Special Olympics athletes, a bottle drive that raised $289 for five children whose mother had recently died, teaching music to young children, Volunteering through the youth Quest program, doing make up and costumes for a school play and volunteering at the Nanimo Seniors Village which included Santa Clause and the whole class arriving to sing Christmas carols - One of the employees said that some of the residents forgot that their families had visited but they all remembered Santa and the caroling.

The Dover Bay Grade 11/12 Leadership Class is a class filled with Neighbourhood Heroes and, if you take the time to look, I can assure you your local school has just as many.