Dear DPS Community,
I was thrilled earlier this week to see more than 150 of our DPS student leaders from 21 DPS schools in action at the Aspen Challenge: Denver, a competition that asks student leaders from each of our high schools to work in school-based teams to find solutions to challenges such as racial inequity, using social media for good, supporting individuals with mental health conditions and improving healthy living conditions in an environmentally friendly way.
For us, the importance of the event goes beyond the final projects that the students present. For us, it is also about the valuable experience our kids have in learning how to develop ideas, how to respond to complex challenges, how to work as a team, how to lead and how to communicate their visions. This type of learning exemplifies our mission of fostering the growth of the whole child, one of the core goals of the Denver Plan 2020.
Faced with challenging social problems that sometimes make adults uncomfortable, our kids jumped right into discussion -- and action.
"I wanted my voice to be heard," said Dajia Maestas, a sophomore at Manual High School, whose team also took on the issue of race. Students led community discussions, held a student walk-in and staged A Day with Race (Respect All Cultures Equally) at their school.
"It's awesome," said Manual Assistant Principal Fernando Branch, who worked with the team. "It's all student-driven, and the adults just support it."
While the DPS Student Voice and Leadership Team, school staff, parents and adult volunteers assisted over the past seven weeks, our students led the meetings after school, during lunch and on weekends as they researched their chosen topics, debated solutions and came up with creative -- and sometimes very personal -- ways to present their projects.
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| DPS students spent more than six weeks on their projects, such as community yoga at Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy. Watch a brief video. |
Like the many other students who are participating in South High School's "Eracism" campaign, senior Anna Thielen wrote her stereotype-busting truth in black marker on a blank name tag. In the space under Hi, my name is ..., she wrote "Asian" and then, "I'm bad at math."
Stevie Shocks, a junior at East High School, described in her team's presentation to judges how years of vicious cyber-bullying led to a suicide attempt in the eighth grade. Her experience and recovery drove her participation in the FLY (Friendship Lies in You) project at East, which urges students to use social media for good and to commit random acts of kindness.This fun and courageous project has been featured on the Huffington Post.
"I wanted to share my story to be an inspiration to people," Stevie said. "It's taught me to empower myself to lead and teach others."
We want our schools to encourage our kids to pursue their passions and interests and to strengthen the social and emotional skills they need to succeed -- not just as students, but also in life. And the Aspen Challenge has been a terrific vehicle to build skills. Skills such as leadership, collaboration, problem-solving and even winning with grace and respect for your competition.
George Washington High School's team displayed that particular skill when they were awarded first place and an all-expenses paid trip to the national Aspen Challenge competition this summer. GW's COLOR team (Creatively Optimistic Leaders Of Respect) combated racism through music, literature and art. As they held up their trophy, team members encouraged all students to stand and, at the count of 1-2-3, DPS student leaders shouted in unison, "We are the change!"
Best,
