Wednesday, September 19, 2018

International (Week!) of Peace at Akins HS



Yesterday, Hart, Tami and I made our first school visit of the new semester to Akins HS, and we had great participation from students there. We decided to ask students to tell us about ways they've practiced their First Amendment freedoms recently instead of just asking them to list the freedoms. Several students mentioned that they had participated in the school walk-out protesting gun violence. Others talked about discussing LGBTQ rights and immigrant rights in their classrooms, attending their churches of choice and helping push for legislation to stop deportations of immigrants.




 Because this coming Friday is the International Day of Peace, we also asked students to write down actions that people can take to increase the peace. There were lots of thoughtful responses, including:

"Talk it out and actually listen to the other party."
"Put each other in each other's shoes."
"More people need to be kind and genuine."
"Use words and not guns or violence."
"I think the best first solution to every problem is education. As well as understanding and then to take action."
"Be more respectful to people."

"People have to speak out for what is right, and do things based on that.  Even if peace is impossible we should still aim for it."
"Responsibility. Taking care of yourself and others. Peace, Earth, Life."


Some of the many student responses to the reflection question


We did the Penny Poll, as usual, and Health Care was the top priority at 28% of the vote, Education at 24%, the Military at 16.5 % (veterans benefits were mentioned by at least one voter as being why she put her pennies in that jar), 15.5% for the Environment, 10% for Humanitarian Aid and 6% for NASA. Thanks to all Akins Eagles who came by the table and shared their thoughts with us!
t-shirt challenge for the day







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