One Caledon Many Hearts: The initiative uniting schools across Caledon

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Beginning back in January, Coffee Time Bolton began reaching out to schools across Caledon, passing out small wooden hearts.

This was part of their “One Caledon Many Hearts” initiative, a school-based art project focused on kindness, belonging, and community.

Schools were given the chance to make their heart decorations their own, and they certainly did.

Whether it was creating big displays or small ones, out in the open or tucked away in classrooms, many schools in Caledon took their liberties and had some fun.

Each heart passed around has been hand-decorated; no two are the same.

Now the decorations are gracing the halls and faces of schools across Caledon.

When special education teacher Lesley Utting-Polchak saw the initiative on Facebook, she knew this was something she wanted to involve her students in.

Utting-Polchak has been a Special Education teacher at Humberview Secondary School since 2017, and she is always seeking new ways to involve her students in the Caledon community.

She says she was drawn to the initiative because of its “no expectations” approach, and the students can do whatever they wish to decorate their hearts.

“I thought it was inclusive because there are no guidelines. It is essentially whatever the students wanted them to be,” says Utting-Polchak. “And I feel like that sort of encompasses what our special education is.”

“Let's all be included,” she says.

The creative liberty of the project allowed her students to do anything they wished with their hearts, ranging from stickers to foam pieces, to one student turning hers into the core of an apple.

“Being included and having no expectations, it was just about whatever you wanted it to be, and I think that we don't get enough opportunities to do that,” she says.

Another point that drew her to the initiative, she explains, was that if someone were to look at the hearts, they wouldn't necessarily assume they were done by a special education class, but could simply enjoy the beautifully done hearts.

It truly was inclusive in her class. She explains that some students struggle with fine motor skills, and they were still able to decorate, whether it was a dab on the heart or a sticker.

They were all able to sit together and decorate without direction, just creating what they wanted.

“It was just I think the feeling of being involved,” she says, adding it was a feeling of pride to be able to see them all completing the activity.