On March 9, 2016, 21 volunteers from Santa Barbara Catholic School’s 8th grade class engaged in meaningful dialogue with students from St. Monica’s College from Melbourne, Australia. The two schools, through the guidance and facilitation of the Face to Faith Programme, a central part of Tony Blair’s Faith Foundation Global Schools Programme, shared experiences and ideas regarding community, faith, and festivals in their regions.
Face to Faith works across 6 continents delivering a pioneering educational opportunity that focuses on helping prevent religious conflict and extremism. Students are able to embrace an open-minded approach to others, to diversity, and to difference that can lead to tolerant stable societies.
The 8th grade students have been preparing for this opportunity for several months in Ms. Pangelinan’s Social Studies class. Half of the students who engaged in the activity had previous experience with the programme in Mr. Balance’s class in 2015. These students were able to dialogue with others in the Philippines.