Sometimes the best way to start a story is at the end.  While yesterday’s Middle School Social Justice Teach-In was a celebration and affirmation of the committed work that has engaged our eighth graders for the past six months, our closing assembly provided us with an opportunity to reconnect with former eighth graders who continue to be deeply engaged in social justice work in the high school. Seeing where this work can lead is an essential learning goal of the project. So as our afternoon assembly came to a close, there was some good natured jousting between a number of the high school students to “have the last word.” I share with you below all of these “last words” as they get right to the core of what makes the Social Justice Project and LREI’s mission-driven focus on this work so important.

• 11th grader Jerel: “You just need to start small and find something to care about. It’s social justice so it’s not about us as individuals, but about us together.”
• 11th grader Jaron: “There is one simple quote that sums it all up. ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ So go out and be it.”
• 12th grader Nathaniel: “You have to feel something. So whether it makes you feel angry, inspired, or concerned, you can turn that feeling into action.”

So what is the Social Justice Project? Here’s the recipe:

• Find two classes of thoughtful, engaged and dynamic eighth graders
• Frame a year of inquiry around the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Explore our nation’s history and literature from Civil War through Civil Rights Era
• Engage with the varied narratives of those who “chose to participate” along that historic journey
• Call on each of the eighth graders to “choose to participate” themselves by identifying a pressing social justice issue to which she/he can commit and take action
• Bring students with shared interests together as a team to reinforce that change requires partners and effective collaboration
• Ask students to partner with local, national and global organizations working to make change in the team’s area of interest
• Connect learning to field visits with these organization, interviews with key thought leaders and efforts to engage in authentic action in support of the cause
• Discuss, read, write and blog about one’s own learning journey along the path to making a difference.
• Pass that learning on to other middle school students through the development of interactive workshops to be shared at the school’s annual Teach-In
• Reflect on the totality of the experience and the habits of mind and heart that are necessary for authentic and active engagement as a citizen activist.
• Commit to sustaining this work so that each student can as Mahatma Ghandi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Over the past four months students have engaged through research and direct action with a wide range of organizations as documented in this video:

In their digital arts classes, students created PSAs connected to their topics. You can view these in the Sixth Avenue lobby and many will be shared with our partner organizations (click the image below to view the full collection of PSAs).

In addition to their regular blogging, research and op-ed writing, students designed the following workshops to share their learnings with the rest of the middle school:

• Life in Plastic is not Fantastic: The perfect body? The prettiest hair? The best clothes? The clearest skin? Images we see everyday in the media project unattainable perfection and are affecting the way both girls and boys see themselves. In this workshop you will learn what the media does to create false images and how to become “media literate” in the face of them. Finally, you will make your very own feminist superhero or shero! This workshop is for everyone, both boys and girls!
• Paint the School With Pride!: “Hey, watch your language!” How many times have you heard this phrase from your parents and teachers? In this workshop we will talk about hate-language that is often used to offend people in the LGBTQ community and their allies. You will learn how many people in schools actually feel unsafe because of bullying. Be prepared to be inspired and become an “upstander,” someone who doesn’t just sit by and watch but stops this hatred. Then, help us as we fill the school with a Rainbow of Pride by making ALLY SHIRTS that spread love and positive messages!
• Sock Out Homelessness: Admit it. We have all passed a homeless person on the street and wanted to help but didn’t know what to do. Should you give money? Give food? Smile? In this workshop you will learn what little things you can do to address the growing problem of homelessness in our city. We will explore how, where and when you can volunteer, and we will finish by actually making a difference by creating care kits for delivery to Coalition for the Homeless. Come learn how the little things count!
• Know Your Rights: Did you know that police officers stop and frisk innocent people on the streets of NYC everyday? Do you know that people have rights when searched without cause? In this workshop you will learn about the police practice called “Stop & Frisk”, how it is discriminatory and how to fight back against this flawed institution by knowing what people can do when stopped. Know your rights! Know the rights of others!
• Earth Inc.: Soda. Cleaning products. Bottled water. Everyday we buy and consume products without knowing where they come from or how they are made. In this workshop you will learn the ugly truth behind some well-known products and discover how corporations have created deadly toxic pollution. You will learn about one community who has been especially affected, Bhopal, India. Come, learn what you can do, and make a gift to send to those who are recovering from a corporate polluter’s crime.
• Poverty Has No Face: What do you picture when you think of someone living in poverty? Come get educated and test your knowledge in our informational game show challenge: “Poverty in New York.” You will learn how people get caught in the cycle of poverty and see the misconceptions people are faced with everyday in a short, original documentary made for this day. NYC has some of the highest income disparity in the world: get educated, because changemakers need the facts!
• The Gun Debate: Some people want the right to have a gun in the home. Others want to ban personal gun use altogether. Some people are in the middle. What is the safest approach? Come learn about all the sides of the current debate taking place in our country involving gun violence and gun laws. Learn about the 2nd Amendment the the U.S. Constitution, what NYC law says, and more. In our workshop, you will be a part of this vigorous and intense debate, literally. Calling all debaters!
• Unthanked Heroes: Veterans come home after war having lived through traumatic violence. Once home, they are physically away from the fighting, but oftentimes can’t escape the violence in their minds. Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, struggle to live healthy and productive lives. In this workshop we will explore information about PTSD through an informative game-show and then send heartfelt “Thank Yous” to currently enlisted service people.
• Power Of Women Ending Rape (POWER): Sexual assault and sexual trafficking in the United States is a major problem. In our workshop we will discuss ways that women are targeted by this violence and then work to make a difference by making jewelry for Sanctuary For Families, a place where those healing from gender-based violence go to get nice things that help them heal and feel beautiful again. We will also make anti-trafficking and anti-gender-based violence pins for ourselves to spread the word that gender-based violence is not okay and needs to end now! Take the POWER!

Click here to view pictures from the workshops.

A great day! Exciting to consider what new stories this group of eighth graders will be able to tell when their high school selves return to a future Teach-In to share. For the rest of us, we would do well to keep in mind the final words of our high school panelists that meaningful change is possible if we “care, feel, be and act.”