This week I was in the audience as 7 CAST Teach students presented projects they had taken from inception to implementation as part of CAST’s project-based learning approach.
“Giving power to students to create solutions – now our community is better,” said Ana P., a CAST Teach senior, speaking to a roomful of adults at the Whole Child Whole Community conference put on by Communities In Schools, one of CAST’s closest partner organizations.
Ana and her project partner Jasper P. both struggled with mental health, and beginning their freshman year they proposed that CAST Teach create a wellness room that would be a place for cooling off, but also full of tools and activities to teach both young people and adults about mental health.
They recounted how they first presented their topic to the Northside ISD Board, then won a grant, and now oversee implementation of the activities and the scheduling of the room.
“The fact that we were able to do this as freshmen shows that you are never too young to change your community,” Jasper said.
Not only were these students incredibly wise, and excellent presenters, but listening to them I was struck by the fact that all 3 of the projects are incredibly timely.
Maya M. presented a work that she said was inspired by her childhood, her love of the outdoors and simple joys such as making mudpies. After visiting the H-E-Butt Foundation Outdoor School as a campus and seeing how her peers relaxed when disconnected from their phones, Maya began researching technology regulation. Her investigation preceded new state laws that prevent students from using their phones in class, and she has doubled down on her commitment to pushing out an information campaign about the downsides of technology, especially before 8th grade.
The final group of CAST Teach juniors, Nathalie R., Annette R., and Sophia M., recognized that teaching is a profession that requires so much from the adults, and can be a strain on any personal lives. After seeing one of their teachers juggling her own small children on a day that was a school holiday, but a teacher work day, they came up with an innovative solution: offer teacher child care at school on those days.
They implemented their project immediately, and CAST Teach Instructional Facilitator Hallie Gelabert, herself a mother of two young children, shared that it had already improved her ability to juggle and fully utilize her planning days without distractions.
What all three of these projects have in common is that they speak to the moment we are living in. They recognize that mental health concerns have spiked since COVID, that teachers are increasingly stretched, and that our use of technology is potentially unhealthy, yet we are often unable to resist or set boundaries.
I am so glad I attended this conference, as I was reminded yet again that when we get out of the way and let young people lead, amazing things happen.
Jeanne Russell
Executive Director, CAST Schools