Peace Panthers at Eastside Memorial HS

We had a good day today at Eastside Memorial HS with the SOY table during lunch.  Thanks to all the Panthers who came by!  As we got set up in the hallway outside the cafeteria, we saw a couple of large peace signs on their bulletin boards.  We were told that the school had held a peace rally recently -- on April 4, most likely -- the Day Without Violence.  Such good news!

Because yesterday was Tax Day, we incorporated that into our t-shirt challenge -- asking students to write down what they'd rather buy than war.  Food, clothing, books and peace were the most common responses.  We agree!  Because the peace sign was already there, we posted the students' responses around the peace sign on their bulletin board.

We asked a question about Panthers, the Eastside mascot -- and most students didn't know where panthers lived in the wild, but they readily understood that panthers are endangered mostly because of habitat loss.  Panthers in Asia and Africa are leopards, and panthers in the Americas are jaguars.  The only part of the US where sightings still are reported is in Florida.

We were thrilled to see that chickens are being raised at the school as part of an Environmental Science class!  There are gardens as well.  We saw that Eastside received an award last year for being an eco-school.  Congratulations, Panthers!

As always, Penny Poll results showed a high priority for Education (33% of the vote) and Health Care (27%), followed by 17% for the Environment, 12% for the Military and 11% for Humanitarian Aid.  And there were many things that students would rather buy than war:

Rebels for Peace at Travis HS

We had an excellent visit today to Travis HS.  Thanks to all the Rebels for making us welcome!  We Rebels for Peace fit right in.  We were asked to set up in the cafeteria today because there was testing being done in other parts of the school.  That was a good place to be, and we appreciated all the students who came by to do the t-shirt challenge and see what the table was about.

It was good to meet several students from other parts of the world, including Tanzania and Puerto Rico.

The Penny Poll results showed the greatest priority for the Environment (25.61% of the vote), 22.8% for Health Care, 21.1% for Education, 17% for the Military and 13.49% for Humanitarian Aid.  As one student said, as she put all her pennies into the Environment jar, "If we don't have a planet, we're all dead."  I wish that our legislators would say it so clearly.

Rebels for Peace!

Peace Wheel of Fortune

reflection poster for Women's History Month, to name a woman you admire and why

reflection poster detail

reflection poster detail

reflection poster detail

reflection poster detail

t-shirt challenge for today

We were happy to see this banner in the school foyer

This looks like a great project!

poster on front door

International Women's Day at McCallum HS

Thanks to McCallum HS students and staff for our good visit today.  Because today is International Women's Day, we made that a part of our t-shirt challenge, and it was great to see a large banner that was displayed in the hallway on that theme also.  We're sorry that we initially were set up in front of it, inadvertently blocking access to it.  After moving to the other side of the hallway, we realized the banner was a place for students to hang out, add more women's names to the display and read what others had written there.

One of the questions on our t-shirt challenge was "Who is Jane McCallum?"  The school is named for her husband, but she was a notable suffragette in Austin, was an education advocate, mother of 5 and then appointed Secretary of State.  She was quite an influential woman in Austin's history!

We appreciated what students wrote on our "Who is one of your sheroes and why?" poster.  Following are some of their responses.  Also -- Penny Poll results showed more than the usual number of votes in the "Humanitarian Aid" category.  Overall, 37% of the vote went for Education, 19% for Humanitarian Aid, 18% for Health Care, 16% for the Environment and 10% for the Military.  I heard two students say that if people are educated fully, that helps solve other problems.  We agree!

Detail from the school's Notable Women banner

notable women banner detail

notable women banner detail

notable women banner detail

notable women banner detail

school banner detail

notable women banner detail

notable women banner detail

Shero reflection poster

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

shero poster detail

Good article on Truthout: "Why is my kindergartner being groomed for the military at school?"

Good to see us linked in this article published today on Truthout:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34693-why-is-my-kindergartner-being-groomed-for-the-military-at-school

Career Fair at Reagan HS

Today, we participated for the third year in the annual Reagan HS career fair.  It's one of the only high schools that still does career fairs, and it's a good opportunity to meet other folks who are providing post-high school options to students.  We learned from an Americorps member who helps Reagan students with college prep that 15 Reagan students plan to graduate this spring with not only their HS diploma, but with an Associates Degree from ACC through the Early College program at Reagan.  That shows a lot of hard work.

Hart counting pennies from the Penny Poll jars after the career fair

We appreciated having the opportunity to talk with students, and the t-shirt challenge elicited some good comments from students and staff, too.  As always, the Penny Poll showed strong support for funding Education (31% of the penny votes) and Health Care (28%), and 21% for the Environment, 13% for the Military and 7% for Humanitarian Aid. When students see the tape unfold showing actual government spending priorities, we can see the surprise on their faces.  The tape shows 6% for Education.

Susana showing the graph of actual federal spending after student votes in Penny Poll

The down side of the day was seeing Army and Navy recruiters there who were asking students to fill out forms with their contact information.  I went over and showed them the written AISD policy prohibiting that, but the Navy recruiters continued to ask students to fill out the forms throughout the career fair, directly flouting AISD policy.  We are following up with AISD about this.

Our reflection poster received thoughtful responses, as always.  The question was:  Which Super-villain do you want to fight:  Sexism, Racism, Ecocide, Poverty or War -- and how?

  And one student said that she would fight against Trump, because he represented all the super-villains!  We don't promote candidates at our tables, but we appreciated that response!

Thanks, Reagan students, for visiting our table and sharing your thoughts with us.