"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

~ Quote widely attributed to Parker.

As we strive to build deeper learning experiences, we also are building students who are curious about our world. Curiosity leads to learning other perspectives and ideas, a way to embrace diversity, a quality we deeply need in our future leaders.

7th grade students are having a remarkable experience working with facilitators from the I Learn America Project.

I Learn America is a participatory education project with a mission to use the power of storytelling to foster empathy, urgency, and action around issues affecting migrant youth, as they forge their own path in a new land. Since we have so many immigrant students, the project, through its youth-led story-telling workshops, is helping the students to have community conversations around their migrant experience, identity and education. They have worked on preparing their “accordion” books which gives them tools to plumb their identity –Who are they? Where are they from? What scares them? Who is their Monster? How can they transform it? Can they draw and create their own body map. Answer the question: what is your happy place?

At the end of the series of workshops and conversations, the students will have written their own story and will be prepared to share it with the wider school community and beyond.

Ms. Yessika’s 11th grade science class has been diligently preparing for their Elemental Eats Science Fair to take place on Nov. 5th and 6th in the school cafeteria. Through this process, Ms. Yessika’s goal for this Food Chemistry unit is for students to understand how chemical reactions occur in cooking, how they can transform ingredients, and what these processes reveal about fundamental principles of chemistry. Students will understand how cooking is an essential part of life, deeply rooted in culture and history. Through this process students will come to recognize how everything they interact with has applications in the sciences.

The following is an excerpt from a story written as a part of a two week long workshop with 826 Boston’s Writers’ Room at the Muñiz and Jhoanna’s 9th and 10th English Support class. 826 Boston is a nonprofit writing, tutoring, and publishing organization where students in grades K-12 and beyond can share their stories, amplify their voices, and develop as leaders in school and in life. The Writers’ Room is located in Room 203, right by the library. In this workshop, students created their own original scary stories.

"Hermit was seeking revenge for a terrible event that had occurred recently. While he was roaming the town, a massive avalanche struck, devastating everything in its path. Heartbroken, Hermit looked up at the mountain where the wolves lived to understand how this had happened. To his dismay, he spotted an entire pack of mountain wolves that had deliberately caused the chaos. Enraged, Hermit expressed his anger in loud groans and slurred human words—an outburst in the Yeti language. Hermit began to devise a plan for revenge. He had an idea and went to bed, thinking about it all night. When he woke up, he got ready and climbed up the mountain to the wolves' den. He looked around to see if any of them were nearby. Once he confirmed the area was clear, he immediately set to work."

~ Written by Ethan H.

The Seniors just experienced a wonderful boost to their preparation for college.

This was the 826 Senior Boot Camp bringing together talented volunteers to help our Seniors with their college essays. It was a joyous gathering which took place in the newly designated 826 writing room and in the Library.

When you give to Margarita Muñiz Academy, you provide resources that enable our Boston youth to experience the power of playing a musical instrument, finding the intellectual thrill of solving a math equation or writing a poem and becoming a leader in the community.