Noah Plasse, 15 - "Heart Rate"

    On Thursday evening, Ms. Greenway gathered us all, in the farmhouse dining room, to ask us what would be the lessons we would teach on Friday - the last day we would spend at Sanjiwani Primary School. She spoke about how it would be our last chance to make an impact on the students, our last chance to make them remember us, our last chance to teach them something valuable. 

    Along with two other students, I planned a science lesson on how the heart rate increases when doing physical activity. Our lesson plan was to show the students how to measure their heart rate, then go outside, jump and run around, come back in and measure their heart rate. That way they would see a raise in the heart rate and understand that the heart rate increases after doing physical activity. 

    The next day we did the lesson we had planned and the students seemed to have enjoyed it. Later that day we were walking back to the farmhouse accompanied by some of the students. It was admirable that they followed us, because they lived just next to the school, so they could have just gone back home but instead the wanted to walk with us halfway up the mountain. We were climbing some high steps and it was kind of physically intense. 

    Then Bisal, a nine year-old student who I was walking with and who had been in my heart rate lesson earlier that day, took my hand put it onto his heart and said: “my heart rate is increasing”. His heart was beating so fast. I felt so proud because he had actually learned something from my lesson. It was such a simple thing I had taught him but I still felt full of pride. 

    He continued some of the walk holding my hand and when he had to leave I decided to give him my favourite cap as a gift so that he would remember me. I still had quite some way to do before reaching the farmhouse and it had started to rain. 

    I looked at the immensity of the mountains surrounding me and in that moment I felt so alive. This might sound cliché but I could feel the power of nature around me and it gave me so much positive energy. I lifted my arms against the wind and the rain; it was a real happy moment for me. And now that I think about it, I’d say that on that day I achieved what Ms. Greenway wanted each one of us to achieve. And that achievement was most probably the key to such happiness.  

Noah Plasse, 15

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Thanks to Noah for this excellent short story!

Namaste