Zachary Brook 2023-12-18

Exam: ENG3U4 Proposal

zach.brook@sac.on.ca

Number of words: 824

Dear Mr. McHenry,

I recently visited St. Andrews College which was a very interesting experience for me.

During my visit, I found that there were a couple of different strengths and weaknesses that

were present at the school. A strength that I took from my experience was the brotherhood

and comradery that surrounded the school as a whole and its community. I observed that

to improve, St. Andrews College needs to implement its cultural awareness in a more

impactful manner.

As I was visiting St. Andrews College, I thought to myself, how does a school like this achieve

this level of comradery and brotherhood? The answer to this question is through the use of

sports, which I hadn't related to that much during my life, but I could see it was used to bring

people closer together. After my time at the school, I could see the level of support and

connection that all these young men had at their disposal. The community at the school was

outstanding compared to any other school that I had been to before in my lifetime.

Brotherhood was the greatest strength that a school community could have. This whole

idea of brotherhood at school can help new students find their identity and be able to feel

like they belong. Which would have been so useful when I was going to school as a
teenager! In my book, I expressed the challenges that resulted from me moving to Canada

in terms of my identity. I talked about how my sense of belonging changed because of me

thinking of myself as Sudanese, while other people were thinking of me as solely ‘black’

when I moved to Canada. This really shows how the sense of brotherhood and people

understanding you for who you really would have been very useful for me when I was

growing up in Canada. Although sports have never been my biggest interest, when I

attended a St. Andrews football game and saw the brotherhood and backing that every

player had for each other, I realized the importance it can have for any person. As I

mentioned in my book, "I didn't understand then what a profound act of generosity this

was; to see another person as a part of your tribe when they don't see themselves that way

is an act of kindness. It requires that you extend yourself to one another.” (28) This quote

from my book embodies the whole idea of brotherhood, where you extend yourself to one

another and become a 'tribe'. If I came to this school as a new student starting over from a

new country, I would adapt way better because of the brotherhood and fellowship that is

present here at St. Andrews College.

Although I saw many positives at St. Andrews College, there was one area of improvement

that stood out to me. I promptly realized the name of the school with 'Saint' in the name

and also being in a chapel service that the school was very focused around one God which

is fine because that is what the school is somewhat about. The area of improvement that I

spotted was a need for more cultural and religious awareness education. While I visited St.

Andrews, I met a couple of students who had faith other than Christianity. During Chapel, I

could see how these students were a bit uncomfortable in the singing of songs that were

solely focused on Jesus and Christ. Since students at St. Andrews are pretty much only
exposed to Christian songs in chapel, there is not much of a way for them to learn a lot

about other cultures and religions around the world. I met many students who came from

remote parts of the world who had other faiths. In my book, I mentioned that in the months

after 9/11, tons of police started showing up where my mosque was. When this happened, I

thought of how these police were just showing up to the mosque because of my religion which

made me quite upset. I think that cultural awareness can help people in high school

understand more about other religions and cultures as well as help them learn to not make

assumptions about people because of their religion. I think that more cultural and religious

awareness education at St. Andrews would help make it a more well-rounded school than it

already is.

Finally, I would like to reassure you that my experience was amazing and that I think that

St. Andrews College is an amazing school with plenty of diversity. As I mentioned, the

brotherhood and connection that I noticed at the school were very strong. Despite the

many strengths of your school, I greatly suggest that you consider the area of improvement

which is having more cultural and religious awareness education.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to visit St. Andrews College and I hope you consider

my proposal.

Sincerely,

Elamin