September 11, 2001 was a tragic event for our nation. It left us with many questions about our role as a nation and a community. In response to the event, how did we react? Unfortunately, there was anti-Muslim rhetoric and fear mongering in the media shortly after the 11th of September. Not all responses were negative. As a nation we had some wonderful outpourings of support for the families of victims. In our community here in St. Louis, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant families held a series of dinners together to create a community event that would bring about positive change. After a series of discussions in October 2001 and the months following, educators decided on a format where faith-based schools take turns hosting each other and being a good neighbor. One of the core messages in the program is even though we have differences in our beliefs that cannot be completely reconciled, we can still be good neighbors, learn to solve problems together, and have fun in the process.
The following school year, in the fall of 2002, EnTeam started a program still running today called Operation Cooperation. Here is a video produced by the local news about the event. Since its inception in 2002, over 1,000 3rd grade students have built bridges across communities by learning to measure cooperative performance in Operation Cooperation.
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