A group of 30 middle-school spent an afternoon learning about social change on Sunday, Oct. 29, at Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School. The Changemakers Unite Summit offered the fifth through eighth graders opportunities to build their leadership skills. The event was open to any faith, and presented through a lens of Jewish values, according to Raquel Scharf-Anderson, Mirowitz head of school.
“We are helping students in middle school learn how to identify, understand and address issues that are important to them and their community and gain practical tools to be effective advocates and take on the responsibility of tikkun olam, to fix the world,” Scharf-Anderson said. “They can study voting justice, climate justice, gender justice, and racial justice.”
During the afternoon, the middle schoolers attended two break-out sessions that addressed subjects where they had a particular interest. As the summit opened, a panel of social justice advocates offered their perspective on a variety of issues. Those ranged from voting rights to environmentalism.
Changemakers Unite grew out of the host school’s involvement with Keshet’s leadership project for Jewish day schools, according to Shannon Rohlman, Mirowitz director of instruction.
(All photos by. Bill Motchan)
“We dreamed up a program specifically geared toward pre-teens,” Rohlman said. “We saw the opportunity to help shape their leadership skills and show them that a large community supports their individuality and identity and shares the same concerns as they do.”
Rohlman said the goals of the summit were to mobilize and empower the future leaders to take action and use Jewish values as a framework to build a sense of ethics.
“We have loved working with one another to make today impactful to everyone involved, and we love the energy we are getting back from the students,” she said. “It gives us great hope for the future.”
Mirowitz and Keshet gained support from the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, Progress Women, America’s B.L.A.C.K. LEAD STL, Green Schools Quest and PJ Library.
Former Missouri Rep. Stacey Newman kicked off a general brainstorming session to gauge what issues were uppermost in the kid’s minds. That list included: Israel, gender equality, climate change, racism, animal cruelty, voting rights, food insecurity, gun violence and women’s rights. Newman then asked the middle-schoolers how they would go about practicing tikkun olam. They responded with the following:
- Stop littering
- Create more equality for everybody
- Develop better world leaders
- Economic equality
- Establish safer neighborhoods
- Subsidize groceries in low-income neighborhoods
- Make sure everybody’s voices and point of views is heard
Newman encouraged the participants to “follow their passion, don’t let up and be part of the solution. Do you know the phrase ‘tikkun olam?’ That is what drives me—to make the world more just, peaceful, tolerant and equal. What you do matters. remember that. We all can pursue justice. Take one issue that excites you. You guys are so cool because the first thing you did was to show up—you’re here today. You came here today because you want to be a leader.”
