Apr. 12, 2021 -- The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent shutdowns have had some silver linings, at least according to 1998 graduate Katrena Carr-Perou. The New York City-based executive director of the youth leadership agency
Inspiring Minds NYC, who was inducted into the Heights High Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in 2019, said she has always wanted to offer programming to students back in her hometown. “But geography wouldn't allow it. This is one of the really awesome silver linings of Covid.”
Ms. Carr-Perou and Inspiring Minds NYC have hosted eight sessions of the culturally responsive and culturally relevant art-based Civics Hall program to 4th and 5th graders from Boulevard, Oxford and Roxboro Elementary Schools. With funding from
Travis Kelce’s 87 & Running, managed and facilitated by the Heights Schools Foundation, the sessions have touched on the role students play in their communities and how they can bring about positive change.
For Peyton Greene, a 5th grader at Oxford, these weekly sessions have been powerful. “Civics really gives me confidence,” she said in the culminating Zoom meet on March 24. “I always look forward to Wednesdays.”
With a variety of instructors from both New York City and CH-UH, the students explored everything from current events to music and poetry all under the guise of how to be agents of positive change. With the help of Cliff Sweeney, a 1994 Heights grad and current Boulevard and Lake Erie Ink staff member, students wrote a collective poem called Change Is Us.
Tamika Williams, who runs the Boulevard Blast program and attended Civics Hall with both her students and her daughter, appreciated the opportunity to connect with children from multiple schools. “I met brilliant students who give me hope for the future.”
Her daughter, a Fairfax 5th grader, said that Civics Hall “helped me not be afraid to let people hear my voice and speak up about issues in our community.”
One of the ongoing activities Ms. Carr-Perou and her colleague Nakeeba Wauchope used to help students identify their values was gathering items to place in an imaginary time capsule. For some children the items were ideas, like appreciation for diversity or self-confidence, while others placed childhood memories, photos of loved ones or even those loved ones themselves!
There was much talk about the students’ “applaud squads,” those friends, family members and community support systems who are there for them no matter what. The students also delved into the difference between equality, giving everyone the same thing, and equity, giving people what they need to succeed.
All the students were encouraged to add their own ideas the to welcoming online community, so 5th grader Peyton shared a video called “My Skin is Not A Threat.” She found it after searching and watching numerous videos on the Black Lives Matter movement. “I think this one is really interesting but sad at the same time,” she said.
Heights Schools Foundation Executive Director Julianna Johnston Senturia attended sessions and Superintendent Elizabeth Kirby even stopped in when her schedule allowed it. Ms. Carr-Perou was thrilled with the experience and reflected on her upbringing. “The time when I felt the highest level of community in my life,” she said, “was when I was growing up in Cleveland Heights.”
