8th Grade MLK Day

Hello all,

 This Friday January 20th our 8th grade class devoted the day to following in Dr. King's footsteps and working towards realizing his dream of a society without stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination. Throughout the day students participated in a series of activities about groups of people and individuals who have made the choice at some point in their lives to speak up for others or to speak up for equity and social justice. Taking the time out of our school year to learn how events in the past have lead to stereotypes, which then developed prejudices which led to discrimination is important if we as a society and our future generations are to move beyond this type of thinking.

We started the day with the 8th grade MLK assembly where students shared through speeches, poetry, music and artwork this vision that Dr. King had for our society and those who have been upstanders for equity.

Following the assembly Theater Espresso, a local theater group,  hosted an interactive play recreating the supreme court case of Mitsuye Endo vs. the United States. This was a case challenging the constitutionality of the interment of Japanese Americans during World War II. We were also visited by a local resident, May Takayanagi, who was interned as a teenager in the Topaz detention center in Utah at the time. May spoke about her own experiences and took questions from the kids.

Later in the day students in TAG groups read and analyzed the book "Teammates". This is a picture book highlighting the story of Jackie Robinson and his teammate, Pee Wee Reese. We looked at characteristics of both of these men from an anti-racist lens.

Finally student went off to the elementary schools for the service portion of the day. Students went to each of the three elementary schools in town and helped out in classrooms with the younger kids. This involved anything from helping with math, writing and reading to playing games and doing technology related activities.

All in all it was a great day for us as an 8th grade class to pause for our normal routine to think about our goal of a society that is both equal and just!