YOUTH ENGAGEMENT ORGANIZATION

Making positive change in the world

In Middle School, learning about social justice issues includes history, social studies, current events, and equity and inclusivity within our own communities. In addition to what is happening in the classroom, close to 20 Middle School students have joined the Middle School Youth Engagement Organization. The social justice group gives students the opportunity to explore a variety of societal issues and to better understand how they can make others aware of injustices and empower themselves and others to take action, even in the smallest ways.

With such high participation this year, the club has divided up into smaller groups to research and share learning on a number of different topics. World Kindness Day, the Holocaust, Orange Shirt Day, and International Day of Disabilities are some of the topics that show the breadth of issues that are researched and then shared in presentations with students in Junior, Middle or Senior School.

Director of Middle School, Julie Clement, explains how the students take a topic of interest from research to sharing information that will hopefully influence the community around them. “Earlier this year, we worked on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which helped all of their classmates to understand what a disability is, how and why life is harder for people with disabilities, but that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect but also not have barriers in their lives because of a disability. So they’re hoping to educate their classmates on this and then have their classmates think about how they can be more inclusive.”

As well as learning about many important issues, the YEO students pointed to how their work has demonstrated the importance of collaboration and delegation. Their advice for other young students interested in making positive change in the world is to work with others, and to remember that even the smallest action can make a difference.