My name is London Mack, and I am a 7th grade student here at Northern Light. Since the beginning of the school year, I've been taking an elective focusing on student leadership and social justice, where students decide what we want to work on to improve our school community. The project I chose was Community Meeting.
When I decided to start Community Meeting, my vision was to help students improve their teamwork skills, both inside the classroom and on the playground. Teamwork skills are essential because, at NLS, we are all brothers and sisters, and we have to be able to work together.
My idea for Community Meeting involved visiting different classrooms on a regular basis, and having students sit in a circle. While sitting in a circle, we begin a dialogue where students can share a positive affirmation, or a constructive concern, with their class and classmates. This experience helps students understand their classmates' feelings. After everyone shares in the circle, I introduce one fun teamwork activity. An example is Community Building, where students partner up and practice teamwork skills with each other.
These are not the only type of Community Meetings I help coordinate. Together with my classmates, we organize presentations on the issue of gun violence for students in different grade levels. Our goal is to foster awareness about gun violence prevention and emphasize the importance of creating communities where children, teens, and adults feel safe. We are also there to answer questions!
