Middle Schoolers Learn to Stand Up and Be the Change

The entire student body of the Scarsdale Middle School was involved and engaged in exploring how they could "Stand Up and Be the Change," at the 13th annual Human Rights Conference on January 12. Teachers Meghan Lahey and Jane Strobel and the faculty of SMS organized a full day of speakers and activities for the students, demonstrating how they could be instrumental in making the world a better place.

Representatives from local organizations along with those from organizations that reach all the way to Africa participated. The great hall of the school was filled with cans of food that students had been donated to the Food Bank for Westchester and students assisted with evaluating the cans and sorting them so that they could be distributed to those in need.

I stopped by a music class where there was an African drumming demonstration and then visited Ms. Cassano's art class where the children were making symbolic paper hands for the Youth Uplift Challenge for Students Rebuild, Save the Children and Global Nomads Groups. For each hand created, the Bezos Family Foundation donates $1.90 to Save the Children's youth empowerment programs in Nicaragua and Indonesia.

At 10 am, the whole seventh grade class gathered in the auditorium to hear Michel Chikwanine recount his personal journey from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Canada. The son of a human rights activist, Chikwanine was kidnapped by rebel soldiers at age five, and given a gun. He was instructed to use it and ended up killing a good friend. After a few days he escaped and was eventually found and hospitalized. When his village was overrun by conflict, his family moved to a plastic tent in a refugee camp in Uganda. They were ultimately able to get official refugee status from the United Nations and relocated to Canada. Chikwanine did an excellent job or relating to the kids and showing them what it was like to live in a rural, war-torn community.

The schedule included many more inspirational speakers and activities to give Scarsdale students a global perspective on human rights.