For Wellington College, the class of 1909 suffered the most during the war. From that year group, 25 were killed and 32 were wounded. Their average age was 24. As a Year 12 student sitting in class today, can you (or your teachers) imagine, 5 or 10 years from now, going off to fight in a war thousands of kilometres from home or seeing and experiencing the deaths of so many of your mates from school?
These sorts of ideas could be the basis of a creative writing exercise where you put yourself in the shoes of a student in the class of 1909. Perhaps you are writing a diary entry while serving in Belgium in 1917 and reflecting on or reminiscing about your school days and class mates, or maybe you are writing a letter home. These activities don’t need to be confined to Belgium. The feature on the First World War in NZHistory.net.nz contains a number of topics that will help you complete this task.
