Hello SG, 

If you don't know me, my name is Malachi Bodden. I'm a sixth former from Boston, MA and I'm also a part of the lacrosse and football teams.

Today I'm starting this petition not just in my self-interest but in the interest of my peers. I know last year many students abused the privileges of the internet. As we cannot remove the pain caused by students and their harsh words, I feel like it's a new year and people have changed since last year. With the introductory of the internet safety courses given by the school this summer, students took this hour-long course on ways to practice internet safety and it got me thinking; "What can we do as a school to practice internet safety and generate positive mental health this year?" One solution I thought of was Online gaming. Online gaming helps students practice good mental health because it gives students an outlet to escape the stress of school work, sports, and daily life. Online gaming allows socializing and staying connected with peers, family, and friends on and away from campus. The technology department does a good job monitoring what happens on the servers of our school and If they unblock online gaming, they can still monitor the safe practice of online gaming. Most kids in the dorms connect to the wifi through ethernet cables and would use their gaming devices at night after afternoon activities. The school already has the power to control use over the internet and if it gets out of hand, St.georges has the power to shut it off. What's our goal- COMMUNITY. We preach community in every meeting we have with the school and to build community, we need to have good mental health and a positive community. The benefit of bringing Online gaming is that it would be a positive addition to strong student culture and would make students who are feeling homesick, feel like St.georges is their home.