As she turns into the home stretch of her first year in college, Amelia has declared her Major in Global Studies with a Minor in Political Science.
Category Archives: Activism
March For Our Lives
March 24, 2018. San Francisco
On March 24, the kids and families of March For Our Lives will take to the streets of Washington DC, and around the country, to demand that their lives and safety become a priority and that we end gun violence and mass shootings in our schools today.
Amelia is attending the march in San Francisco.
Women’s March 2018, Fight Like A Girl
January 20, 2018
Attended the 200, 000 strong march for women in San Francisco.
Los Angeles 600,000, Sacramento 150,000, Toronto 100,000, Philadelphia 150, 000, Austin 120,000, San Francisco 200,000, Chicago 300,000
Refugees Welcome – Racists Out!
January 28, 2017
Protesting Trump’s Executive Order to ban Muslims refugees and legal immigrants from certain countries.
Camp Unity
April 19 – 22, 2016
“Camp Unity is a requirement for the social justice pathway since it is great camp that focuses on social injustice of all types that help students become leaders within the school. This goal ultimately aligns with the Social Justice Pathway’s (SPJ) goals for our students as it serves as foundational understanding for our students in terms of discussion, understanding of leadership, and our perspectives when considering social justice issues.
Furthermore, this camp will help unify the students within SJP as a shared experience. Ms. Evans and I find that this will be such valuable experience for Amelia because it will give her a platform to explore issues she is interested in as well as allow her to bond with other classmates beyond her immediate friend group.”
Day (Evening) 1:
We arrived at Camp around 7:00 PM after a long and windy trip through traffic to Boulder Creek, in which my friends and I pretty much just slept the entire way, as comfortable as we could get in the cramped bus seats, one torso piled on top of another.
First things first; bags out of the buses, and we entered into the main lodge with our duffles piled on a lunch table outside and newly made nametags secured around our necks.
“Rainbow!”, someone called, and we learned that “Rainbow” meant the whole room shuffled around seats, actively trying to sit with people not of the same race, gender, or friend group. One of the best traditions of camp, as I don’t believe all 60 of us would’ve gotten half as close if we hadn’t been forced to sit and eat and talk to everyone else we didn’t know.
It was here we first met Richard, the lead counselor and adult of Camp Unity. Not so tall, not so short, bone white hair and a grizzled, tanned face. I remember one of the first things he said to us, an order to enjoy the food of our first dinner, to clean our plates because of how good the pasta bake was. I jokingly replied, “we’ll try,” and he clapped me on the shoulder and chuckled.
After dinner, it was bunk assignments and I got to meet my cabin mates. Luckily, they put me in one closer to the main hall so I didn’t have so far to go in the morning.
Back at the main hall, we all sat in a huge circle and introduced ourselves and “built community”, until the main event of the evening; tackling racial stereotypes. No notice, just straight “hey kids while this particular ethnic/racial group steps out of the room, please come up with every derogatory term/slang/stereotype for them you can think of, and we’ll bring them back in and make them look at them.”
Peer Comments
“Ace Emelia Straight”
- strong sense of self
- not afraid to talk about it
- educator & tolerance
- fearless spirit
- always looking out for others
- a voice for those who can’t
- voicing your opinion
- you know who you are
- strong and courageous
- gorgeous
- teach and educate
- passionate
- very unique
- born leader
Conclusion
In the end the entire camp became friends and started talking about their shared experiences, triumphs, failures, successes, preconceptions. And the world moved forward one little step in one small way.
Sources of Strength
Sources of Strength
AMS has been nominated by her teacher to participate in this new program at Paly. See the excerpt of the email sent out to her parent.
“Dear Paly parent,
Congratulations! Your child has been nominated by the school’s teachers and administrators because theyve been identified as a leader on campus and someone whose voice is heard by other students. They will be receiving an invitation letter this week (SEE ATTACHED) to participate in a new school-wide program at Paly called Sources of Strength.
What is Sources of Strength?
Sources of Strength ( sourcesofstrength.org) is a training program that brings peer leaders together in partnership with caring adults. Sources is a widely used national best practice program. More than 10,000 youth leaders have participated from across the U.S. and Canada. The program uses a fun-filled style of active learning to encourage open discussion about the very real problems that youth face and the sources of strength that help in navigating those problems. It trains peer leaders on how to connect their friends – and themselves – to the help and support they need when they’re struggling, aiming in particular to significantly reduce those in severe distress who may consider ending their lives by suicide. The program will be led by a certified trainer and adult leaders from Paly. Ultimately, Sources is an “upstream” wellness program designed to leverage student voice to help change the culture of our school for the better – one that helps youth identify, discuss openly, and strengthen protective factors in their lives.”
Palo Alto High School – Social Justice Pathway
AMS has been accepted into the Social Justice Pathway at Paly starting in 10th grade.
From the Social Justice Pathway Blog (http://palysocialjustice.blogspot.com/:
“The Social Justice Pathway is a three-year program featuring self-direction and project-based learning in an interdisciplinary model rooted in community action and collaboration. This program is for students interested in empowerment, conviction and the passion to build a better world. It’s an opportunity for authentic education and experiential learning beyond the high school walls.”
Mission Statement:
The Social Justice Pathway is a three-year program featuring self-direction and project-based learning in an interdisciplinary model rooted in community action and collaboration. This program is for students interested in empowerment, conviction and the passion to build a better world. It’s an opportunity for authentic education and experiential learning beyond the high school walls.
While our vision gives us a “North Star” and provides direction, our mission statement simply defines our purpose and it is a biggie: build a better world. It helps us to answer three questions about why Paly Social Justice Pathway exists:
WHAT—a three-year high school program that blends subject curriculum with community action to empower students to make positive change to “their world”
WHO—students and teachers who want more control over and value from their education
HOW—give students and teachers to the responsibility and opportunity to connect individual convictions to real world change. To, Access, Adapt, and Act to make our community and world a better place
–Eric Bloom
Pride
June 30, 2013
Attending the Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco for the first time. Wow!
March for Education – Occupy SF
November 19, 2012
Participating in the “March for Education” with Occupy in San Francisco to City Hall.
Joining Occupy SF for political activism from Justin Herman Plaza to SF City Hall.
Occupy SF Demonstration
October 15, 2011
Participating with Occupy SF. This is our right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
“Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City based in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district. The protests were initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters.[5] They are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, corruption and influence over government – particularly from the financial services sector – and lobbyists. The protesters’ slogan “We are the 99%,” refers to the difference in wealth between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.
The original protest began on September 17, 2011, and by October 9, similar demonstrations were either ongoing or had been held in 70 major cities and over 600 communities in the U.S.. Internationally, other “Occupy” protests have modeled themselves after Occupy Wall Street, in over 900 cities worldwide.” (from Wikipedia.com)
