Cycle 3
Rebirth
Since the decline of SWV, we decided to keep pushing forward and change the focus.
We went from a program that listened to the student body and attempted to address issues that
were presented to us, to a program that sought issues and recruited students to help. This was an
idea brought upon us by one of the original members, Anna. She said, “Since they aren’t coming
to us, why don’t we go to them?” Sadie, Neil, and I looked at each other and all thought the
same thing. It was a great idea.
We offered an “SWV 2.0” lunch to anyone interested, this time offering free pizza. The
turnout was fantastic. Twenty-five students showed up to eat pizza and find out more about
Students with Voices. It was refreshing to see new faces, and the old faced excited to take the
lead. Anna, who has recently taken much more of a leadership role introduced SWV to all the
new students and discussed what we were and how we are changing to benefit our school.
We discussed the issues we brainstormed in our meeting previous to the “SWV 2.0”
meeting, and we present that to students. From there we recruited students to help and join
forces with other teachers and staff within our school.
Anna commented on the amount of trash she sees outside after lunch is over and wanted
to do something about cleaning it up. Since there is a big push for recycling, she wanted to put
more recycling cans outside and collect compostable food waste to add to a worm bin and
compost container.
Anna started collecting compostable food waste at the end of every lunch and putting it in
the worm bin in Sadie’s room. For 2 weeks, she worked alone until four students came in after
lunch and said they wanted to begin helping Anna. Over the course of a month, one turned into
15 hard working students. This indicates that students want to be a bigger part of their
community. Some need to see what that looks like to get started.
Currently, Anna and 6 other SWV members are working with the gardener at Explorer
Elementary School and helping with toe composting in their garden. Daily, students are coming
with composting material and working with other adults within out small community.
John wanted a way to ensure computers within classrooms stay safe. John is a computer
fanatic. He treats computers, his or not, like they are people. He wants to make sure all
computers are where they should be in the classroom and there is a charger for each one ready to
be used by students. He decided to create a master spreadsheet with all computer names,
numbers and teacher names on it. He believed that the current computer checkout system was
awful and that too many computers are missing chords and plugs. The computers at HTMMA
are in need of refurbishing. Many of them will not turn on unless directly plugged into the
outlet. Wit missing chords, many classrooms are short several computers.
John began going to each classroom and checking to see if each computer had a matching
charger. When he saw that a charger was missing, he’d look for it in the classroom and common
spaces. “Most of the time if a charger is missing, it’s just in the classroom or common area,” he
made it seem so simple. After doing this for two weeks by himself afterschool, his team has
grown to seven students. Four students come to all classrooms in the morning, grab the
clipboard and check all the computers. At the end of the day, he comes with two other students
to check the computers for the same thing. Without any guidance, his “Tech Team” has created
a schedule, organized the computer systems, enforced computer organization within classrooms,
and even lobbied for compensation (extra minutes at snack time three days a week.)
Finally, at our March 5th lunch meeting, Joe, a new 6th grade student in SWV 2.0,
commented on the lack of cleanliness of HTMMA. He said, “Not to be mean or anything, but
this school is dirty. The 6th grade commons is a total mess everyday when I leave and every
morning. I’m not the cleanest person, but it sucks coming to school when it’s messy like this.
The walls are all jacked up too. Who paints this place? Can we paint, SWV?” A majority of the
students agreed, chiming in with loud , “Yeah!”. I asked Joe what he thinks the solution is. He
didn’t know exactly.
I had him email facilities with his concern and to see if they could come to our next
meeting. Within 24 hours he was given a response that facilities would come to our next
meeting to discuss the situation of cleanliness. The meeting on March 12th, 2009, let to an
official “HTMMA Spruce-Up Day” which occurred on April 25th and 26th, 2009. During the
planning process, the HTMMA Parent’s Association got involved with fundraising, three
students from SWV 2.0 worked with the school architect learned about building codes and rules
for school improvement, and the other SWV students recruited a teacher and two friends to
attend and help with Spruce-Up Day.
What this shows is that students are all motivated to better their community. The original
SWV was set up incorrectly, asking for issues to be presented and saying “we’ll fix it” was an
incorrect and inefficient method. This was my plan, not the point of student voice. Students
that present school and personal related issues have a course of action, but may need assistance
and prompting. This is what the rebirth of SWV offered, a place to help students with bettering
HTMMA using their ideas with our assistance.