{"id":4555,"date":"2020-05-14T14:58:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T18:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=4555"},"modified":"2020-05-14T14:58:32","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T18:58:32","slug":"elhs-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=4555","title":{"rendered":"ELHS To Me"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Madeleine Kleinerman<\/strong><br \/>\nPortrait<br \/>\nEast Lansing HS<br \/>\n1st Place Division 3, News Writing<br \/>\nDiversity Coverage<\/p>\n<p><b>JUDGING CRITERIA<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Topic relevant to the school or students and reflects lifestyles, challenges and potentials of those from a diverse background<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sharp, attention-getting lead grabs reader and arouses curiosity<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shows thorough reporting skills through research and interviewing<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Effective use of facts\/quotes from both primary and secondary sources<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Balanced, fair and sensitive presentation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Proper diction\/grammar; use of third person<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Macconel Pemba was in second grade at Pinecrest when his art teacher told him that he \u201clooked like a thief.\u201d He was helping her clean up supplies they were using for a project. When he handed her something shiny, she said she was surprised he hadn\u2019t taken it for himself. Pemba, now a sophomore, explains how moments like this have taught him how to behave in a store&#8211;drop his bag at the door, make sure his hands are always visible, and speak politely to the cashiers. Pemba and many of his black peers are aware of race wherever they go, especially school. While ELHS prides itself on its diversity and inclusivity, systemic racial issues do not evaporate at the door. This is why, as part of this year\u2019s professional development, ELHS staff is watching \u201cAmerica to Me,\u201d a 10-part docu-series that addresses racial issues at Oak Park and River Forest High School (OPRF), located just west of Chicago. Superintendent Dori Leyko started watching the series on her own last spring, after the principal of OPRF spoke at a Minority Student Achievement Network conference. Over the summer, an administrative group viewed the documentary before deciding to watch it with staff during the coming school year. \u201cI was kind of astonished at the similarities of the school to ELHS,\u201d Leyko said. \u201cAs I watched it, I just thought there was so much there that would be enlightening for our team to view and talk about.\u201d Both ELHS and OPRF are about 60 percent white and 20 percent black. Along with a similarity in demographics, they also have similar cultural landscapes. According to the documentary, Oak Park\u2019s current community was resistant to the \u201cwhite flight\u201d that occurred during its racial integration in the 60s and 70s. East Lansing\u2019s district is similar because it is 20 percent school-of-choice and located in a college town. \u201cThe folks (at OPRF) were very open minded and race conscious and were very much committed to the idea of having a diverse community,\u201d Glenn Mitcham, director of curriculum, said. \u201cYou would think that Oak Park would just be this amazing community of people that get along\u2026 but that\u2019s not the case at all. They\u2019re really struggling with this issue of race in their school.\u201d The progressivism of both OPRF and ELHS has often masked racial issues that bubble beneath the surface. Kalaia Hampton, a senior, described how other students often needlessly describe her behavior as disrespectful. \u201cSometimes if you do something, you\u2019re \u2018ghetto,\u2019 but you\u2019re really just being yourself,\u201d she said. \u201cOr you\u2019re acting \u2018black,\u2019 which really isn\u2019t a bad thing, but people say it\u2019s disrespectful.\u201d The negativity around \u201cacting black\u201d in academic or social environments is one reason that black students have been taught to change their language and behavior based on who they\u2019re around. While this is routine for these students, it\u2019s negative because it reinforces the idea that their culture is not as acceptable. \u201cIt\u2019s like when we\u2019re trying to get a job, we have to talk in our white voice,\u201d Avery Jones, a sophomore, said. \u201cIf we talk the way we normally talk they\u2019re gonna say, this person is black, they don\u2019t have a good background.\u201d Because of these factors, black students are likely to change their behavior or switch to their \u201cwhite voices\u201d at school. While teachers might not specifically discourage \u201cblack\u201d behavior or language, ELHS staff is still primarily white. \u201cI do think that representation matters,\u201d Klaudia Burton, one of two teachers of color at ELHS, said. \u201cI think it makes a difference when you walk into the classroom and you see somebody who looks like you.\u201d Along with these issues, race is still closely tied to a widening achievement gap. Over half of black students who took last April\u2019s SAT at ELHS scored below benchmark. In comparison, only about a third of their Asian, Hispanic, white and mixed-race peers fell short of the score. Maggie Moore, an OPRF alumni, noted that these are not the test statistics that are typically associated with high-achieving schools like ELHS and OPRF. \u201cWithin a school, there\u2019s going to be another, if not several more smaller schools, which are not comprised of \u2018sky\u2019s the limit\u2019 type of classes and programming and students and teachers and rigor,\u201d she said. \u201cEven though on paper, this school looks to be so amazing, there\u2019s actually a lot of things that it could do way better to serve all of its students.\u201d \u201cAmerica to Me\u201d is the beginning of a conversation about race and how it affects student achievement and experience. While fixing the system to provide equitable education will take time, teachers believe this discussion is a step in the right direction. \u201cIt is jumpstarting the conversation about a lot of things that people have probably avoided discussing,\u201d Burton said. \u201cBut it is by no means an end point. This is definitely an issue that needs to continue and go beyond the conversation.\u201d Principal Andrew Wells emphasized the importance of student voice on this issue by referencing the student lead professional development that occurred last year at ELHS. \u201cI think we need to realize that our student voice has been powerful, as far as the sense of urgency is concerned,\u201d Wells said. \u201cThat\u2019s necessary to provide equitable education to our students.\u201d Moving forward, it is the integration of this student voice into the race conversation that will prove most important. Involving students in discussion around the issues presented in \u201cAmerica to Me\u201d is vital to addressing race at ELHS. Hearing stories and perspectives from students like Pemba, Jones, and Hampton is the only way their experiences can truly be understood. \u201cIf nobody knows, how will anything ever change?\u201d Hampton said. \u201c[Staff] will never really see it from our perspective, but\u2026 at the end of the day, we\u2019re kids. Adults run the school, they\u2019re who\u2019s in charge, and if you can\u2019t go to who\u2019s in charge, you can\u2019t expect change.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Madeleine Kleinerman Portrait East Lansing HS 1st Place Division 3, News Writing Diversity Coverage JUDGING CRITERIA Topic relevant to the school or students and reflects lifestyles, challenges and potentials of those from a diverse background Sharp, attention-getting lead grabs reader and arouses curiosity Shows thorough reporting skills through research and interviewing Effective use of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[64,4],"tags":[175,22],"class_list":["post-4555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","category-diversitycoverage","category-nw","tag-2019-20","tag-division3","post_format-post-format-image","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/issue3_2019-3.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/issue3_2019-3.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Joel Beeker","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=9"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/issue3_2019-3.jpg?fit=1639%2C1826&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1bt","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}