By Amalia Medina
Ceniad
East Lansing HS
Growing up Latina, Maya Macauley (10) faced racial biases her whole life. Whether it was people dismissing her culture by calling her white or using racial slurs about her Latin heritage, she always struggled growing up as a minority.
So, when she heard about the opportunity to attend the Minority Student Achievement Network’s annual trip, she jumped at the chance.
From Oct. 23 to Oct. 26, MacAuley, along with Anaiis Rios-Kasoga (11), Elizabeth Ngassa (11), Liyu Mesay (11) and Laila Lloyd (11) went on the annual MSAN trip to Madison, Wisconsin.
During the trip, the students met with other MSAN groups and discussed ways to improve the school environment for minority students.
“We went to talk to other schools with an action plan to go to our school board and see how to better teach minority studies and how to help the school environment,” Ngassa said. “I thought that it would be very helpful to bring stuff back to this school.”
As members of the BSU board, Rios-Kasoga, Ngassa and Mesay knew that the trip could provide new resources and ideas that they could bring back to BSU.
“We thought it would be a good idea to go, so we could take anything we learned from there to bring to BSU and the school,” Mesay said. “They had speakers and people with different identities come, and they talked about their experiences. We also got to workshop with other schools, and we thought about what we could do at our school.”
For MacAuley, the trip was an opportunity to learn about how to help younger kids, so they don’t have to experience the same struggles she has faced.
“The trip taught me a lot of lessons,” MacAuley said. “I learned that we need to love ourselves before we can give out love. I also learned that we need to make action plans that will help kids that are younger than us grow into their cultures. It’ll help them become more self-aware and aware about their cultures, which is important.”
1st Place
Division 2, Yearbook Verbal
Y-05. Organizations Writing
A story that gives the reader a fresh view of the organization. An individual story may not be submitted in more than one writing category. Submit a PDF of the page(s) showing the entry. CLEARLY INDICATE WHICH STORY YOU WISH JUDGED in Additional Information field if there are multiple stories on the page.
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Solid lead that draws reader into story
- Meaningful student quotes that enrich story and reflect effective interviewing
- Evidence of adequate research
- Story does not center on purpose of group or simply review their activities
- Adheres to rules of good journalism including: short paragraphs, effective transitions and use of active voice, freedom from editorial comment, careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors, correct use of grammar