Act and Speak Easy - Speech and Drama Classes Dubbo, NSW

This starts my 22nd year of teaching middle school. Yesterday was quite possibly one of the most impactful days I have ever had.

I tried a new activity called “The Baggage Activity”. I asked the kids what it meant to have baggage and they mostly said it was hurtful stuff you carry around on your shoulders.

I asked them to write down on a piece of paper what was bothering them, what was heavy on their heart, what was hurting them, etc. No names were to be on a paper. They wadded the paper up, and threw it across the room.

They picked up a piece of paper and took turns reading out loud what their classmate wrote. After a student read a paper, I asked who wrote that, and if they cared to share.

I’m here to tell you, I have never been so moved to tears as what these kids opened up and about and shared with the class.

Things like su***de, parents in prison, drugs in their family, being left by their parents, death, cancer, losing pets (one said their gerbil died cause it was fat, we giggled😁) and on and on.

The kids who read the papers would cry because what they were reading was tough. The person who shared (if they chose to tell us it was them) would cry sometimes too. It was an emotionally draining day, but I firmly believe my kids will judge a little less, love a little more, and forgive a little faster.

This bag hangs by my door to remind them that we all have baggage. We will leave it at the door. As they left I told them, they are not alone, they are loved, and we have each other’s back.
I am honored to be their teacher.
Credit: Karen Wunderlich Loewe

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The Turtle Tribe – the first 5 years

I just turned 16, and wanted to thank everyone for your support over the last 5 years! (75% of Australian small businesses don’t even last 5 years!)

The Turtle Tribe helps Aussies reduce their plastic waste, by making a simple change to bamboo toothbrushes without compromising on quality or value, while supporting beach cleans and kid’s education around ocean plastics.

You have to clean your teeth. Why use a plastic brush that could end up polluting the oceans for hundreds of years? I make it super easy for you to swap to bamboo, and because you've got better things to think about, I'll replace it automatically for you every three months with 30% off every time for the life of your subscription with code SWEET16 for the next 3 days only. Click HERE to sort it right now and never have to think of it again.

When I won the global ‘Changemaker of the Year’ Award at the age of 11, initially I wasn’t actually allowed to enter. I submitted my video before discovering the rule that you had to be 16 to enter. But there was also a rule saying the judges could change the rules. So I submitted a second video (below in the comments if you want to see it!) asking the judges to change the age rule and let me enter, saying ‘The oceans can’t wait 5 years, and I can’t wait 5 years!’. Well can you believe it, they changed the rules, let me in, and I went on to win the award and jump start my business and mission.

I’ll be forever grateful to those judges for believing in me. With their (and your!) support I’ve been able to achieve so much in those 5 years, including

- growing into one of the largest bamboo toothbrush suppliers in Australia, keeping over half a million plastic toothbrushes out of our waste streams and environment

- launching a whole range of plastic-free products including floss, toothpaste, lip-balm, and our sonic electric toothbrush

- publishing our award-winning children’s picture book, Say NO to Plastic!

- educated thousands of kids at schools and kindies about ocean plastics and simple solutions to the plastics crisis

- helped fund the cleaning of tonnes of ocean plastic off beaches with Ocean Crusaders and Sea Shepherd

- spoken at dozens of events, and regularly in the media about the issue of ocean plastics

- submitted a petition to the Queensland environment minister calling for a ban on plastic toothbrushes

- formed intergenerational partnerships with the aged care sector to replace hundreds of thousands of plastic toothbrushes with bamboo ones every year

- won multiple awards including the 2022 Teen Entrepreneur of the Year and 2022 Queensland Young Achiever (Create Change), and many more.

Phew! But I couldn’t have done it without the support of great people like you! So thanks for being part of The Turtle Tribe!

To celebrate my birthday and invite you to keep powering my business and mission to help reduce ocean plastics, I’d like to offer you a special 30% discount off all subscriptions, at my store for the next few days only with the discount code SWEET16. (Ends Aug 22nd)


Invite your friends and family to visit theturtletribe.com.au where they can get a free bamboo toothbrush to try, and let’s see what we can do together in the next 5 years!

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