Students Inspired to Bring About Social Change

Published on: 2010/10/22 - in Releases

While politicians have made the term “change” one of the biggest political buzzwords of our times, a group of local students are learning how to actually make it happen.

This October 27th, a group of Kingston-area students will get some first-hand pointers from those “in the know” as to how to make a difference at a special symposium at the Queen’s University Faculty of Education’s McArthur Hall.Dubbed “Challenge for Change – The Antipathy to Apathy,” the second annual symposium sees students in the Limestone District School Board’s three Challenge programs attend workshops and develop projects designed to create social change.

The first stage of the project will see those students participate in workshops led by approximately a dozen cutting edge innovators, artists, videographers and leaders of community action who will pass on their knowledge to the students on how to affect positive change in the world.

Among the diverse group of presenters slated to present are award-winning children’s author Deb Ellis, the humanitarian association, Engineers Without Boarders, the sports-based organization Right to Play, Ottawa-based spoken word/hip-hop artist Greg Frankson, and local musician, writer and educator Gary Raspberry.

The second facet of the symposium, to be held in February, will see students take their newfound strategies to create a project using a discipline of their choice to address an issue of social justice and/or sustainability. Those projects will be displayed to the public at that time.

Last year’s student projects included a redesigning of the green bin, successful clothing and book drives, a model of an energy-efficient school and music videos produced on the theme of change.

Alan Macdonald, one of the Limestone District School Board teachers involved in co-ordinating the symposium, says the emphasis is on providing students that have a desire to implement change with the tools to move forward.

Last year, the results were impressive.“What resulted last year was a carnival-like showcase of student work that included live performances, inventions, sculpture and innovative community action,” Macdonald says. “Some student teams continued to work on their projects even after submitting assignments. As a teacher, I can tell you this was reward in itself.”

The challenge programs, which are designed to meet the needs of academically advanced and gifted students who are seeking new learning opportunities, include about 200 Grade 7 and 8 students from Loughborough, Calvin Park and Odessa public schools.