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Modesto, CA

Unity Through Diversity

Grant Amount

$19,120

Year Awarded

2020-2021

Project Coordinator

Jamey Olney

Grant Type

Team

Local Association

Empire Teachers Association

Focus Area

Social Emotional Learning

About the Project

The Unity through Diversity project is a vehicle through which students will use their individual stories, their voices, and their activism to disrupt injustice and foster empathy in their school, community, and world. As educators, it’s not just our job to give our student knowledge. We must give them worthy objectives to use that knowledge on. We have to make sure that we graduate students who will use their talents and strengths in the community to benefit others. A question we always get in education is, “How will THIS impact test scores?” Here’s the bottom line…. kids have to WANT to learn. Through service learning, students find value in what they’re doing, thus they feel motivated TO learn. We want our students to make a valuable contribution to their community. Now more than ever, we are graduating students who have no understanding of other people, other cultures, and other people that occupy their communities because we have not taken the time to learn about each other. There are things you cannot teach in a classroom. They must be demonstrated in a COMMUNITY. In light of the Covid-19 crisis, many students are experiencing trauma, isolation, and loneliness. Serving others during these challenging times is a powerful means of giving our students purpose and a sense of connection with others. Students will begin the year exploring their own identities, learning one another stories, and studying examples of upstanders representing diverse groups of people from history, current events, and their own experiences.

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