What began as a normal morning at work for Sam Pisani (BA ’14) quickly turned into anything but.

The Grade 11 world religions teacher sat down at his desk on Jan. 30 only to learn news of a shooting at a Quebec mosque that claimed the lives of six men attending evening prayer the night before.

“After seeing what people had to say about it, especially over social media, I knew I had to do something,” said Pisani, who teaches at Humberside Collegiate Institute in Etobicoke.

Reflecting on how he could turn this situation into a teaching moment for his students, Pisani decided to veer away from his class plan that morning.

Instead, he asked them to write letters.

“I teach 16-year-olds who are all accustomed to texting and posting on social media, so what better way for my students to genuinely connect with others than by writing letters?” he said.

“I only gave three instructions. I told them they weren’t getting marked and they didn’t have to participate, but if they did, I wanted the letters to come from a place of love and compassion, sending positivity to people in our community who needed it the most.”

All 19 of his students put pen to paper.

Pisani then delivered the letters to the local Islamic Information and Dawah Centre mosque.

Ilyas Ally, the mosque’s assistant imam, was overwhelmed and excited by the gesture.

“Before this, I hadn’t even stepped into a mosque, but now we’ve established this great relationship between the mosque and Humberside,” Pisani said.

“We’ll be taking a field trip there this term. Other students and teachers have also approached me about what have now become known as The Humberside Letters.”

As for the 19 students that wrote the first batch of notes, the experience has opened their eyes to how a small but kind gesture can really make an impact.

“We’ve had conversations on what this initiative has done for our school and the community,” Pisani said.

“I let them know we’re in an age where we can use our voice and people will listen.”

It was his time at Brock that initially hit that message home for Pisani.

“I saw the difference I made just by speaking about important issues through dramatic arts,” he said. “I knew then that I could help others through the smallest of things.”