Eight
students from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School attended the Minority
Student Achievement Network (MSAN) Student Conference hosted by Paradise
Valley School District in Phoenix, AZ with Vera Outeiro and Ed Byrne.
The conference afforded our students the opportunity to connect and
learn from each other as well as students in MSAN districts across the
country. Students spent a day touring Arizona State University and Grand
Canyon University, and heard from college students there about their
experiences transitioning into college. The colleges also provided
sessions on financial aid and the admissions process so students had a
better understanding of the college admissions process.
One of the highlights was hearing from Calvin Terrell, who delivered a
dynamic interactive presentation imploring our students to move from
being cowards to becoming warriors in their own lives, the lives of
their peers, and wherever they encounter injustice. The presentation
afforded our student leaders time to reflect on how they lead, what they
stand for, and what their responsibilities are as leaders in an unjust
world. Our Cambridge students hope to bring Mr. Terrell to CRLS to
deliver his message to more of our students. Students spent time in
mixed-districts study groups examining two scholarly articles and making
connections to the challenges and aspirations in their own districts.
They discussed how race as a biological concept is false, yet race and
racism persist as social phenomena in real, meaningful, and damaging
ways. They looked at the tenets of Critical Race Theory and explored how
CRT as a critique and paradigm could be useful in their home districts.
Each
district spent time as a cohort thinking, debating, and eventually
creating an action plan to improve racial disparities in achievement in
their own district. Cambridge came up with an ambitious plan that
includes 11th and 12th graders mentoring younger students potentially
through the CRLS Community Meeting time. Each district then created a
poster showcasing their action plan and we toured all the district plans
in a "gallery walk" session. Our students made meaningful connections
with other students engaged in similar work around the country and
returned to Cambridge enthusiastic about what they learned, grateful for
the opportunity to attend this conference, and eager to get going on
their plans.