Most school curriculum teaches children the history of the world.
A new summer education program at the Dixon School of Arts and Sciences teaches children they can change the world.
Launched this year at Dixon, the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools program is a six-week summer literacy and cultural enrichment program designed to serve youth in grades kindergarten through 12 who live in communities where quality academic enrichment programming is limited, too expensive or non-existent.
First and foremost, the program is intended to foster an appreciation of reading in the young "scholars" who participate.
"We're looking at enhancing their reading and comprehension to the point that they can not only master and pass standardized tests, but also so that they have a sense of self-confidence and a love of just picking up books and reading," said program director Clexton Middleton.
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The carefully curated books on the school's shelves highlight a diversity of lives, experiences and cultures, many of them featuring women and people of color. Many of the books also tackle weighty topics like voting, nutrition and social and economic reform.
More than just creating scholars, the school emphasizes that youth become informed and active participants in the world around them.
Gabrielle Brown, a Florida State University student servant leader intern, helps lead instruction and discussion in classrooms. In classes, students talk about things like race, gender and class, sharing viewpoints and having honest, respectful dialog.
"We find ourselves having the conversations we might not be able to have in regular schools, and that's what makes freedom schools so important," Brown said. "We're paving the way for students to find their voice and use their voice."
That's true in both the figurative and the literal sense.
Throughout the day, the school curriculum incorporates song and dance and call-and- response chants into lessons and vocabulary to keep students engaged. They are able to vote on things such as the lunch menu, and in the morning they're given the opportunity to make announcements and recognize their peers for their accomplishments.
In each of the program's six weeks, the scholars' curriculum is focused around places they can make a difference: in themselves, their families, their community, their country and the world. The final week focuses on how they can use hope, education and action to make that change happen.
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As scholars, students learn to learn, and they also learn "to hear the things that others feel, see and believe and respect everyone's opinion," Middleton said. "Learning how to respect everyone's feelings and desires, but also how to communicate my own."
A program of the the Children's Defense Fund, the Freedom Schools project has 181 sites in 28 different states. The CDF is a nonprofit organization that works to provides a strong, effective and independent voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby or speak for themselves, paying particular attention to the needs of poor children, children of color and those with disabilities.
The Pensacola program is currently in it's fourth week, and was altered to accommodate the COVID-19 pandemic. Students and staff wear masks throughout the day, class sizes are reduced and desks are separated to observe social distancing.
The Rev. Kammy Young, co-president of the Pensacola freedom school, said work to create the local program started two years ago when six local Episcopal churches — St. Cyprian's, Holy Trinity, St. John's, Christ, St. Christopher's and Holy Cross Episcopal churches — decided they wanted to do something to improve the lives of the community's underserved children.
After a few church members visited an established freedom school, they immediately began raising funding and support to create one in Pensacola.
"They came back and said, 'This is the model that will make the most significant difference and impact in our children's lives in Pensacola and to address the disparities we see,'" Young said.
Kevin Robinson can be reached at krobinson4@pnj.com or 850-435-8527.
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