Developing Agency and Action Through the Changemaker Program

At its heart, the Changemaker Program is built around the concept of centering social responsibility. Students are learning, both on and off campus, about what it means to be an active participant in a community, and are building the skills to do just that.

Building on the work that Lianna has been doing with faculty to develop grade-level social justice throughlines, I am collaborating with teachers to extend that in-class learning to service projects and community partnerships. Combined with that curricular foundation, the hands-on service work helps students understand their unique power to make a difference and integrates with their more concrete skill-building and relationship cultivation as they progress in school and beyond. 

We are currently exploring opportunities for long-term partnerships with several community organizations whose work intersects with social justice throughlines. The idea of ongoing, consistent partnership, rather than one-off service visits, is to build a mutually beneficial relationship with each organization, allow the students to see the impact of their work, and co-create stronger programs with each organization year after year. Our current community partners are Sequoia Living Intergenerational Program (kindergarten, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades), Candlestick Park (5th grade), and Glide (6th, 7th, and 8th grades). While all grades will eventually engage with partner organizations in myriad ways, last month, middle school students started a structured rotation to meet each of the current and possible future organizations, and are engaging in various activities on campus to prepare for and reflect on their experiences in order to deepen the impact of their work and of their experiences.

Throughout the first half of the year, middle school students have taken the lead on 12 different student leadership projects that range from planning and running our Bike & Roll to School days and establishing a Sunrise Movement club at Live Oak, to organizing an innovation fair and strategizing waste diversion processes for the school. In addition to being motivated dreamers and doers, these 6th, 7th, and 8th grade student leaders have been serving as project managers, taking formalized ownership of campus-wide service initiatives with faculty support.

In this first year of the Social Impact Studio class, middle school students are learning about the more practical, hands-on skills and techniques involved in social responsibility and making change in the ChangeMaker Lab. Each grade level has a specific year-long guiding question that informs their skill-building and projects which, combined with learning about changemakers present and past who’ve used those skills, have strengthened their agency in making the world around them a better place.