Middle School students at the Susan B. Anthony (SBA) recently heard from over a dozen state and city leaders as part of the annual Community Outreach civics event. The guests spent the morning at the SBA fielding questions from students as part of their civic action project.
Organized by SBA civics teachers, Alexandra Butler and Shalyn Peterbark, the event brings together leaders like Mayor Patrick Keefe, State Rep. Jeff Turco, School Superintendent Dr. Dianne Kelly, Revere School Committee members, and others to discuss their roles in government and how to increase civic engagement in Revere.
“This is our fourth year running the Community Outreach event, and I think it was our best yet,” said Butler. “We had so many community leaders take time out of their day to answer questions from students about their civic action projects. It has been awesome to watch these partnerships between SBA and local, as well as state, government grow.”
Butler said some of the presenters from this year have attended the SBA’s community outreach events from the start.
“Before the event, students conducted some background research on their topics,” she said. “They then created a list of questions they still had for local and state leaders about their topics. The goal of this event was to connect students with community leaders who can partner with them to create change for their issues.”
As part of the project, students were tasked with reflecting on the event and what they learned from leaders.
"I feel like this event helped me learn more about my project topic, which is focused on student engagement," said SBA student Sam.
Another SBA student, Tyler, said, "After talking with leaders, I found the best way to create change and some of the difficulties of my topic.”
Etienne reported that she enjoyed hearing from leaders and “how they each go about addressing certain issues and their personal views."
"I learned a lot about how you need to advocate for yourself and the change you want," said Angelina, another SBA student.
“Students were able to gain some confidence in their public speaking skills by asking questions to community leaders,” said Peterbark. The civic action project is a multi-month project, and the feedback and answers students receive will make their projects stronger. I hope that five years from now these same students will be adult citizens that are making similar efforts to make positive change in Revere.”
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