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February 23, 2017When VASJ students talk about their favorite classes offered at the school, Mr. Patrick Preto’s World Religion class almost always makes the cut.
The students learn about a variety of different religions and cultures from around the world, including Islam, which they are learning about now.
Today, students in Preto’s class had the opportunity to gather in the Founder's Chapel to listen to a guest speaker, Imam Abbas Ahmad from the First Cleveland Mosque who brought the segment on Islam and being Muslim to life for the students.
“The kids loved him the last few years he came,” says VASJ Religion Department Chair Mr. Patrick Preto. “This is a very important learning experience for them, as there's only so much they can learn about Islam from myself, a white Catholic man.”
VASJ junior Melanie Mitchell agrees that in-person experience does more than her Catholic teacher can provide.
“You get a close experience by seeing them wearing their outfits and an actual Muslim being in the room and not learning about it from a Catholic teacher,” says Melanie. “They were very informative and helped you understand some of their traditions.”
The students had the opportunity to ask questions and get answers from Ahmad. And although they covered similarities and differences among religions, the overarching theme is that we are more alike than we are different.
“Mr. Preto taught us in class that the golden rule is to just be a good person and that is the main thing I got from them being here.”
