When I set out to do a senior project, I originally thought, "duh, I'll just create a documentary of what I've already been working on all year." However, by the second week, my project took a COMPLETELY different direction than how I originally intended it to go. I quickly realized how unlikely it was that I would be able to write, film, and edit a documentary with only one class dropped. Six hours suddenly went from seeming like tons of time to none at all. I absolutely underestimated how much thought, time, and resources go into creating a documentary. However, I had the best of intentions. Earlier this year I'd formed some great relationships with wonderful people who either work in or are part of the refugee community in Atlanta. After having many meals with the amazing Ifrah, Heval, and others, I felt adamant that their stories needed to be shared. Ifrah came here from Pakistan 12 years ago and is now a Kindergarten teacher at an elementary school near Clarkston. Heval is a cardiologist at Emory. I wanted to share their stories because I feel like its important that we don't stereotype and classify all refugees as "the other" and "helpless" - when it's simply not true. They're successful educators, healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, and so much more. I hoped to cast refugees in a positive light. Although their stories are sad, and many would feel blessed just to be able to go back home, they're doing just fine.
Like I said, my project changed about a week in. I'd already watched a documentary called "Return to Homs", researched storyboarding, and contacted my 'stars'. Often in leadership, things don't work out how you plan regardless of how much planning goes into them. I found this out many times this year. My fatal flaw was simply failing to work in enough time. Regardless, I'm really pleased with what my project transformed into. After several meetings, I essentially ended up working for Mrs. Morris-Long to re-imagine SING for ninth graders. It was perfect because this year's theme is none other than - you guessed it- refugees. I started out by reading "Outcasts United" by Warren St. John. This will be the assigned reading book for rising 9th graders this summer. I then created a short 6-question reading guide that I really hope will help the students engage with the text. I think it's cool that I was able to do this because as a current student, I want something that may seem esoteric to these younger students to feel relatable. As I was reading I found I (surprisingly) had a lot in common with the refugee community and I want the 9th graders to share in this feeling. This way, service becomes more personal and meaningful. One of the core questions I went into meetings with Mrs. Morris Long with was: How do we get students to more actively engage with service learning at Lovett? I got to play the role of teacher but also bring my experiences as a student to the table. From the get go we agreed that SING was kind of outdated and needs some kind of overhaul. Teachers who have been at Lovett for years see it as a kind of box to check, without really engaging the students and making me them think more deeply about what it is that they're doing. In the preliminary stages of re-thinking, I watched many videos about different ways to approach service learning (a lot of Ted Talks-Service and schools, The Danger of a Single Story) because Lovett strives to make this an integral part of our curriculum. This is why we go on SING on the first place: because it started out as an initiative of the English Department. To approach SING "eyes wide open", I think it's really important to have a firm foundation. This foundation next year will consist of the assigned reading book, and two orientation assemblies with various activities based around ethical thinking.
The final phase of my project was to brainstorm the content for said assemblies. This piece is still a work in progress; however, we've narrowed the list down by eliminating people that we DON'T think would be good speakers. I shared with Mrs. Morris-Long an activity called "Life Boat Ethics" that I think could serve as a good launching point activity for the new freshman. Reflecting back, my project involved a lot of time researching, reading, and thinking but not as much time necessarily producing a product. However, I believe thinking about new ways to re-think old habits is the most productive form of "work". I'm really fascinated by education, and hope these few simple things will serve to help future Lovett students think critically and analytically about the mergence of two important disciplines: service and learning.
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