The Travelling “Flat Shawn”

A grade seven Social Studies student from Manitoba known by the name “Flat Shawn” made it into my lunch conversation the other day. A friend was visiting and mentioned how a student from her home town mailed a package with instructions about “his travelling flat self”.

The package included a picture of a 12 year old boy, a letter, and a journal indicating that the Social Studies teacher wanted students to learn more about how other people live, work, and play. The students and teacher discussed possibilities, budget, and so on. A field trip and time off school was not permitted, so it was decided that students would travel via Canada Post to a friend. Students had a picture taken of each of them, wrote a letter to the recipient, and mailed a package with journal pages. The premise is that the recipient would take the “Flat Student” along to daily activities and include the “Flat Student” as much as possible. It was encouraged that the recipient take pictures, write in the journal, email updates, and send a post card to the “Flat Student”. During this time, the student would record the “journey” in a personal journal and incorporate the recipient’s journal at a particular deadline.

“Flat Shawn” has had some interesting and engaging experiences since being in my friend’s life. “Flat Shawn” received special work clothes, a hard hat, a visitor’s pass, many photo-ops, and soon a trip to the Caribbean. Maybe I will trade places! She mentioned how colleagues became very enthusiastic, involved, and engaged in “Flat Shawn’s” journey. The level of participation and interest was contagious and many of the colleagues gave suggestions on how “Flat Shawn” could be more active and involved. It is fascinating to hear how this piece of cardboard has evoked such an alliance between colleagues.

Hearing this story promoted my thoughts about how to incorporate a “Flat Shawn” into the Active, Creative, Engaged (ACE) Communities Team that I am a part of. At times, I have wondered how to be enthusiastic, uplifting, and generate “spirit” in an environment where most people work from a home office and are scattered across the province of Alberta and beyond. Most team members communicate through emails and phone calls because of the distance between one another. This distance means that most typical office interactions where someone brings in a birthday cake, shares funny stories, and so on do not occur. Often those office interactions between colleagues can breed enthusiasm, spirit, and keep people going throughout the day.

“Flat Shawn” will be introduced during the next teleconference. Perhaps we can create our own “Flat Shawn” or ACE Mascot. We could make a flat mascot as a cardboard stand-up; mail it to each team member, and who knows from there? Being part of team that focuses on supporting rural communities, leaders, and residents to be active, creative, and engaged could evoke interesting results. Who knows where a travelling “Flat Shawn” could go with the ACE team. Our team is already quite creative, spirited, and energetic so the results could be VERY engaging! Stay posted!