Connections Archive

Christel Price
Public relations editorial intern
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

Final-year education students at Avondale College love their greens so much they have created resources to promote vegetarianism in Seventh-day Adventist primary schools across Australia and New Zealand.

The students were required as part of their curriculum studies class to enter a competition run by the church in the South Pacific's Adventist Health Ministries Department and the church's private health insurer, ACA Health Benefits Fund.
"The students had to create health resources that are totally original and use strategies to promote and give reasons for vegetarianism," says Barbara Fisher, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education.

The students worked individually or as groups to create resources that included board games, books, posters, songs and videos. Patrice Patel was part of the group that created a board game called Vivacious Vegetarians. "The purpose of the game is to expose children to critical thinking and motivate them to eat a healthy balanced diet," says Patrice, who adds she is "glad to play a part in promoting vegetarianism."

Pastor Kevin Price, the director of Adventist Health Ministries, and Alexandra Davison from ACA Health Benefits Fund, watched the students present their resources this past Thursday (May 14). Kevin describes the resources as "creative" and "outstanding." "It's clear a lot of time has gone into creating them. Now comes the hard part: deciding the winners," he says.

The winners will receive up to $300 and have their resources distributed to all Adventist primary schools in Australia and New Zealand.

Caption: Kristy Heikkonen, a final-year Bachelor of Education (primary) student, presents her group's health resource as part of the curriculum studies class.
Credit: Ann Stafford