Photo by David Loreto |
Usually, WKCD reporters write the stories on our website. But in Your Stories, we showcase the best examples our readers send in about how they created “powerful learning with public purpose.” Each story includes a first person interview with WKCD, links, examples of student work, and, often, supporting curricula and guidesheets. (If you have a story to tell, click here.)
Bike It: How Students at One School Are Reducing Their Carbon Footprint [1.26.10]
Founded in 2004, the Samohi Solar Alliance (SSA) is a student-run, grassroots organization working to inspire environmental awareness, education, and tangible change at Santa Monica High School in California and in the greater community. On its regular “Bike It” days, 40 percent of the student body use alternative transportation—most often, bikes—to get to school.
Radio City Works: Students Investigate Personal Truths on the Air [1.26.10]
Radio stories with extraordinary personal voices are emerging at City High School in Tucson Arizona, in a classroom outfitted with bare-bones recording equipment and a $150 annual budget. Teacher Sarah Bromer recruits students to produce three radio stories. Then, she says, “I tell them what I know, I help them get through blocks when they’re stuck, and besides that, I let them discover it.” The results are extraordinary.
Free Dance: Philadelphia Youth Create the “Hidden City Festival” [1.26.10]
Walkers in downtown Philly must have been astonished. On a rainy day in May, the streets were alive with dancing teenagers. Sixty-five students in teacher Joshua Block’s English classes at Science Leadership Academy teamed up with Leah Stein Dance Company, to “make dances spontaneously, rigorously, on location, in collaboration, in connection with the moment.” The equation was simple: site + sound + movement = dance.
On Top of a Housing Development, Students Pioneer a Living Roof [11.30.09]
On the grounds of an old Catholic parish in Somerville, MA, a surprising sight greets the eye. Birds whirl above a landscape of drought-tolerant plants growing on the rooftop. A palette of bright green vegetation stands out against the blue sky. In a pioneering ecology project, a team of local high-school students created this living roof, winning LEED certification for this new affordable housing construction.
Forget H&R Block: Louisiana Students Handle Taxes for Community | E. Iberville, LA [6.25.09]
Tax time. Those two little words evoke stress and anxiety for most adults. But for Kristen Smith, a 15-year-old tenth grader at East Iberville High School in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, the months before—and after—April 15 are exciting. “I wouldn’t have changed the experience for anything,” she says. Smith, with seven of her classmates, signed up to become a volunteer income tax assistant. She underwent extensive training in tax law and preparation, and got officially certified with the IRS to help people in her community with their income taxes.
A New Generation of Journalists | Indianapolis, IN [6.25.09]
“As I stuffed my bag with mini cassette tapes, a digital recorder, a notebook, and a handful of pens and pencils, the nightly news anchors and daily newspaper headlines proclaimed that things were not looking too good for American journalism. The Rocky Mountain News had recently shut down, and many other papers faced the threat of closure. Public demand for written news was decreasing, daily newspaper subscriptions were down, and analysts predicted that the newspaper industry—the most respected outlet of journalism—might eventually disappear. It was under these seemingly grim circumstances that I packed my bags and traveled to Washington, D.C. for a journalism conference for high school seniors.”
Riot Youth Teens Shed Light on Discrimination in Schools [4.22.09]
Ann Arbor, Michigan has a reputation. It’s known as a progressive community, where anyone can feel comfortable and accepted. But two years ago, when a teenager said he had nearly been run off the road by some classmates because he was gay, many people didn’t believe him. “It’s Ann Arbor, and we’re supposed to be all gay friendly and everything,” says Sterling Field, a high school senior and youth activist in the organization Riot Youth.
Blogging from Inside: Youth in Detention Publish their Work [3.17.09]
In her classroom in the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Home in Alexandria, Virginia, Cheryl Duckworth’s students have begun posting their creative writing on a blog. “I focus my classroom around daily journals that we keep. I draw most of the theory for the curriculum from Paolo Freire. His ideas were based on critical inquiry into the students’ own lives. It won’t surprise you that many of these kids come to the classroom with a lot of baggage and unmet needs.”
Improving the Lives of Stray and Homeless Animals Worldwide [3.17.09]
“SPOT Globally is a nonprofit that was established less than a year ago,” explains its founder, Ayna Agarwal, a 16-year-old New Jersey high school. “It connects developing nations all over the world, including Thailand, Italy, South Africa, Philippines, Nepal, Mexico, Lebanon, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Cook Islands, and India. We dedicate our work to really improving the lives of stray and homeless animals. There are a lot of adults involved, but it’s the youth that are actually running the entire program.”
We've All Learned So Much | Bangor, ME [1.28.09]
Excavating the remains of a German prisoner of war camp, hidden near a small lake. Providing Ugandan orphans portraits of themselves to have as a keepsake. Educating the public about “Shaken Baby Syndrome.” Producing a video about their hometown, Belfast. These are some of service-learning projects that are engaging K-12 students across Maine.
The Plight of Day Laborers | Norwalk, CT
[8.18.08]
For the past several years, Youth Activists of the Peace Project at Brien McMahon HIgh School in Norwalk, Connecticut have been working to help improve conditions for local day laborers, including helping sponsor health and wage clinics.
Girls Helping Girls | Fremont, CA
[6.03.08]
At age 15, Sejal Hathi of Fremont, California founded an international nonprofit called Girls Helping Girls. Hathi, now 16 and finishing her junior in high school, just launched Sisters for Peace Network.
Turn Your World Around | Scarsdale, NY
[3.03.08]
Tara Suri founded H.O.P.E. (Helping Orphans Pursue Education), an organization dedicated to raising funds for orphanages in India and Sudan, when she was just 13. Now a junior, the 17 year-old has expanded her mission to include bringing laptops to children in the developing world.
Youth Photography in the Mathare Slum | Nairobi, Kenya
[1.30.08]
“Hometown History” | Skowhegan, ME
[11.27.07]
For ten years, a team of teachers at Skowhegan Middle School in Skowhegan, Maine has inspired their students to become local historians. Students have published in-depth research and historic photos, they have produced videos and essays, and they have created a website to display their huge body of work. They are now putting the finishing touches on a historic walking tour of Skowhegan…
“Pass It On” | New Haven, CT
[11.27.07]
For the past five years, students in the Four Corners course at Common Ground Charter High School have been mapping the histories of four diverse New Haven neighborhoods—neighborhoods the students live in and know well. The project allows them to take what they are experts in and link it to U.S. History content and writing skills. Now, the students are publishing their findings on a new website.
“No Sides to Walk On” | Brooklyn, NY
[11.27.07]
Artist Lisa Wilde has been teaching English at Brooklyn’s Wildcat Academy for ten years. Her students come with lives and dreams broken by poverty, foster care, disabilities, absent fathers. Every semester, she lures her students into a one-week poetry seminar. Over lunch and other cracks in the school day, Wilde draws or paints their portrait…
"Dear Mr. Douglas" | Yakima, WA
[11.27.07]
Though Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas died nearly 30 years ago, students at the high school he attended in Yakima Valley, Washington continue to write letters to and about him. At A. C. Davis High School, American literature students have used the life and work of Judge Douglas as a lens through which to study and discuss everything from The Scarlet Letter to the events of 9/11, by writing letters to scholars, lawyers, and even Douglas’ family.
“Stayin’ Alive” | Melbourne, FL
[11.27.07]
When Allyson Brown first learned about malaria as a high school junior, she was shocked to learn that the mosquito-borne disease is the number one threat to children in Africa. In the face of such a devastating—but entirely preventable—global killer Brown wondered, “What can one person do?”…
"Rocking Their World" | Minneapolis, MN
[10.03.07]
For five days this past summer Women in Music MInnesota ran the Girls Rock 'N' Roll Retreat (GRRR), a rock and roll camp for girls ages 10-17. In the camp, which was held in Golden Valley, Minnesota, the 35 participants honed their musical skills, formed all-girl bands, and participated in seminars on the music industry. Fourteen-year-old Lauren explains: "I came to camp with a passion for music – that’s all! I had no background in knowing how to play an instrument or read music. Within a week, all that changed, and by Friday afternoon I was in a band, on stage in front of a large crowd proudly displaying my talents!"...
"Get Outta My Face" | Bend, OR
[8.01.07]
Ten Oregon teens, tired of being the fattest and most unfit generation ever, have taken matters in their own hands and launched a nonprofit organization and website dedicated to combatting the fast food, big marketing, and conventional media that target youth. Using the latest digital technologies, they are telling food industry advertisers, "Get Outta My Face," and outta our way...
“Lead, Act, and Change: Youth Empowerment and Possibility in a Democratic Society” | Senior Capstone Project at Boston Leadership Academy, Boston, MA
[7.10.07]
In the school year that just ended, teacher James Liou and his seniors took on a new challenge at their six-year-old pilot school in Boston. They launched a unique program that combined historical reading, participatory action research, community internships, and the writing of a 40-page research report. Their focus: the social and historical forces that have shaped and continue to shape the lives of Boston’s residents, particularly its young people. To graduate, all the school's seniors had to complete the project, called a "capstone”…
“Choices/Decisiónes” | TheatreWorkers’ Project and The School of Communications and Global Awareness, Los Angeles, CA [7.10.07]
For two years, the Los-Angeles based TheatreWorkers’ Project and The School of Communication and Global Awareness at Manual Arts High School, in South Central Los Angeles, have teamed up to create documentary theater written and performed by Manual students. This year’s performance, Choices/Decisiónes—about teen pregnancy and the global AIDS epidemic—played to packed audiences…
