the gratitude project assignment :: carson...

Our ongoing series of essays from Grade 8 students from Broadview Public School here in Ottawa.  I had the pleasure of meeting with Ms. Viner and Ms. Krochmalnek's classes just before our Canadian Thanksgiving, to talk to them about *the gratitude project: dare to be grateful*. (Read more about that here.) Students were then given an assignment to interview a friend or family member about what they were grateful for, and to submit a short essay based on that interview.   I have been publishing a selection of these essays here on the blog over the past several weeks.  You will want to read these.  Seriously. These kids rock.

(Read Julia's essay here, Minseong and Judy's essays here, O'Dane and Evan's essays here,Dylan's essay here, Selina's essay here, Lily & Noah's essays here and Hannah's essay here.)

And now, introducing Carson...

The Gratitude Project: by Carson

My grandma is very special. Born in Windsor she has moved 4 times to Elliot Lake to Niagara Falls then to Atikokan and back to Niagara Falls. She also has a lot of allergies. There are so many I can’t list them all but here are a few, she’s allergic to wheat, grass, dust, citric foods, some fruits and the list goes on and on. She has worked as a school teacher and a chemist. She is also a very strong Christian. The best part about her is, she is a great grandma. :)

I asked my grandma what failure are you most grateful for?

When my grandma worked as a chemist in Windsor there were two guys that were always messing with her when she was doing her job and we all know that when you’re working with chemicals you don’t want to mess up. My grandma, who’s not very graceful, thought she was doing a good job of not messing up. Normally, at the end of a project, you wash the beakers and lab equipment with acid but this experiment was different, you were supposed to clean the equipment with water not acid. She wasn’t thinking and the two guys were distracting her and she accidentally washed the materials with acid and that created a deadly gas and everyone had to evacuate the building. That’s when she realized that she needed to leave that work field because it was putting others in danger. She then decided to start teaching and get married. She is most grateful for the chemical accident because it lead to a safe and more enjoyable job. It also lead to her getting married and having four kids and 10 grandchildren!
 

I think she made the right decision changing jobs. One reason because it lead to me and it also could have saved some people’s lives. ;) It also let her do a job that she enjoyed more which was teaching.