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Dutch agricultural students form giant illuminated heart with tractors to support sick classmate

Source: Twitter/Rolf Roelofs

Forming a heart from almost a hundred tractors, the second-year animal husbandry training students at Landstede in the Netherlands produced this impressive display of support and solidarity for their seriously ill classmate.

Severely ill student stunned by 100 tractors that form the heart in Raalte

”I will never forget it,“says Cor Land, teacher at Landstede, in Raalte (in the Dutch province of Overijssel), who guided the class in their action. “It started in the classroom, but this action has grown much bigger as far as I’m concerned.”  

In the class about citizenship of Land, the conversation turned to doing something for each other. “The students started thinking about what they could do for their classmate. He is seriously ill and they cannot see him because of corona. They wanted to do something to let him know that they are thinking of him, that they care.” — DeStentor.nl 

© Guus Engberts
Almost 100 tractors gathered in Raalte, the Netherlands, on Monday evening to rally support for a seriously ill Landstede student. © Guus Engberts Source: © Guus Engberts/DeStentor

100 tractor Display of friendship was no publicity stunt

Cor Land: "We deliberately did not seek the media because this was an action for a fellow student, and not for attention." The sick classmate has decided not to seek publicity himself.
While talking in class, the idea arose to do something with tractors, Land told De Stentor. “The students have seen more such actions in recent years. Not only the protest actions, but more often something beautiful is done with tractors for others.” Because the sick student also has friends in other classes, an app group for the action grew quickly.
In the end, around a hundred participants with tractors gathered to come to a piece of land on business park De Zegge at the end of the afternoon on Monday. “We had a group of six students. They coordinated all tractors to the right place. It was arranged in fifteen minutes," said Land. The tractors came together on a site that Landstede leases from the municipality for agricultural contract work training.
Source: De Stentor

(video still) © Guus Engberts
Setting up the heart at the end of the afternoon in Raalte. (video still) © Guus Engberts Source: © Guus Engberts/De Stentor

the student said he really appreciated the action: “I’ll never forget it,”

Dimitri Roelofs (17) from Lemelerveld, who took part in the campaign with a tractor from his parents’ dairy farm, told De Stentor. “I don’t know the sick boy personally, but I thought it was such a nice move. I would like to drive a lot for that.” Roelofs thought it was great to be able to mean something to someone who is seriously ill in this way.
Guus Engberts from Raalte also heard about the action. “My neighbour told me he was going there. I just got a new drone, so I grabbed it and I went with it.” It resulted in a special drone video of the build-up and the action with the illuminated heart. Within half a day, the video has been viewed more than 500 times.
“If he wasn’t feeling well enough, we would do it with a live stream. But luckily he was there himself.”  said Landstede teacher Cor Land.
It was uncertain beforehand whether the sick classmate could be there. “If he didn’t feel well enough, we would do it with a livestream. But luckily he was there himself. He was raised on a cherry picker in the dark. Suddenly all the lights of the tractors went on at once and then he saw the heart we had formed. 

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t see what it did to him from the ground," said Land. “The man of the aerial platform did: ‘He was speechless’. Back downstairs, the student said he really appreciated the action: "I’ll never forget it," he said later. So the campaign was successful," Land notes.

Source: De Stentor 

Source: Twitter/RolfRoelofs
Students form ❤️ with 100 tractors to support sick classmate Wonderful to see how these students form a ❤️ with 100 tractors ? to show their support for an ill student ?
A beautiful gesture to start the Christmas holiday ? Source: Facebook/BrightVibes
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