Spring Break
Empowering youth
civic engagement
By: Dan Kimberg
Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Columns
Last update: 2/19/08 at 6:42 AM EST
Last update: 2/19/08 at 6:42 AM EST
Following my freshman year at Duke, I had the opportunity to work as a fifth-grade English teacher in New Orleans. My students and I drew upon Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches to study aspects of the English language. As a final project, all students wrote their own "I Have a Dream" speeches based on a problem in the world they were passionate about solving. During the program's final celebration, my students stood in front of an auditorium filled with 500 parents, guests and community members and shared their dreams. After each child unfolded a new hope for the world, the audience was stunned; they remained silent for three full minutes after the last speech.
It was at this moment that I realized the power young people possess. When challenged in a supportive environment, all children have the ability to light up the world as my students lit up the auditorium. My belief in the potential of all children grounded with my knowledge that unfortunately, many never have the opportunity to reach this potential, inspired me to begin the journey of launching Student U. During the three minutes of silence, I decided it was my responsibility to create a program that would allow hundreds of students to walk up on a stage and change the world.
I returned to Durham with my own dreams, my own hopes, my own vision of the future. During my final two years at Duke, I worked to start Student U., a program designed to give power to middle school and college students in the Triangle area. Our mission is twofold: first, to inspire middle school students to take education into their own hands and believe that they can succeed in an academic environment, and second, to empower our college-age teachers to advocate for these students as well as for themselves.
As we recruit our second group of participants, who will join our founding group this coming summer, our students are letting their newfound voices be heard in their respective schools.
Not only are the middle schoolers performing better academically but are raising their hands more in class and raising their expectations for themselves and those around them. Our students are standing in front of classrooms all over Durham, sharing their dreams and spreading their love of learning to their peers. Just as my students in New Orleans inspired an auditorium, Student U. students are inspiring the community. People have begun referring to Student U. not as a program, but as a movement.
It was at this moment that I realized the power young people possess. When challenged in a supportive environment, all children have the ability to light up the world as my students lit up the auditorium. My belief in the potential of all children grounded with my knowledge that unfortunately, many never have the opportunity to reach this potential, inspired me to begin the journey of launching Student U. During the three minutes of silence, I decided it was my responsibility to create a program that would allow hundreds of students to walk up on a stage and change the world.
I returned to Durham with my own dreams, my own hopes, my own vision of the future. During my final two years at Duke, I worked to start Student U., a program designed to give power to middle school and college students in the Triangle area. Our mission is twofold: first, to inspire middle school students to take education into their own hands and believe that they can succeed in an academic environment, and second, to empower our college-age teachers to advocate for these students as well as for themselves.
As we recruit our second group of participants, who will join our founding group this coming summer, our students are letting their newfound voices be heard in their respective schools.
Not only are the middle schoolers performing better academically but are raising their hands more in class and raising their expectations for themselves and those around them. Our students are standing in front of classrooms all over Durham, sharing their dreams and spreading their love of learning to their peers. Just as my students in New Orleans inspired an auditorium, Student U. students are inspiring the community. People have begun referring to Student U. not as a program, but as a movement.
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