Ignite Baltimore 6 - Kristina Berdan's Lessons Learned from Middle School Dreamers

What happens when you let young people talk, brainstorm, and come up with creative solutions to issues that are meaningful to them? Well, if you're like me, you find your life turned upside down as you are suddenly right beside them chasing a dream. After reading that teachers only let their students speak 1% of the time, I decided to let the nine middle school students in my Community Action elective course talk for as long as they wanted about the problems in their community and how they wanted to fix them. Did they decide to plant a garden? Nope. Feed the homeless? Nope. All very worthy projects...but not the project they chose. They decided to create their own free standing youth-run youth center to employ teenagers to be meaningful role models to younger children. This, they felt, would reduce violence among their peers and change how adults perceive young people in Baltimore City. Overwhelmed and a bit terrified by their ambition, I encouraged them to take a vote. Unanimous. Another vote. Unanimous. Suddenly, I was the facilitator of these amazing young people and the adult allies we roped in along the way....in nine years, we have raised over $800,000 with the young people (now many more than nine) writing the grants and running the fundraisers; purchased a house from a local church after researching homes in the neighborhood; worked with a pro bono architect to design the house; worked with a pro bono general contractor to renovate the house; run after school programs that employ youth at the school while waiting for the house to be completed; organized community events to engage others, and finally, finally, finally opened the Dream House this past May with three of the original founders---in college---there to cut the ribbon! The lessons that I have learned from these young people and the adults who have jumped in to help have truly impacted my life and taught me what it means to give young people a voice, believe in their dreams, and create truly meaningful curriculum that provides them with skills like public speaking, grantwriting, community organizing and more. Unfortunately, public education currently does not seem to value these same skills as much as they value test scores, which is why I seem unable to keep a position in Baltimore City Schools to do this work. Alas, I have the best non-job job in the world! I get to be inspired by determined, ambitious young people everyday and chronicle their amazing achievements as individuals and as a collective group.

Category:

Education

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• Ignite
• Baltimore