Mart ISD Leadership Class, here we come!!
Our third visit to Mart involved our group visiting the high school students during their leadership class and lunch periods to build awareness about the Mart Community Projects and the collaboration with the University of Texas. We (Sriju, Paula, PhD student~ Jen, and I…unfortunately our other commons group member Amy couldn’t make it) headed north from Austin around 6:30 in the morning to make it to the high school by 8:30 to present to the leadership class. We presented the information via a power point, including general information about who we are and how we are involved in the Mart Community Project.
In addition, we highlighted several past initiatives of the Community Project (such as the Art Co-op opening) and the four ongoing projects. We also gave examples of types of activities community commons/gardens may be used for, such as: friends meeting places, neighborhood gatherings, parties, board games, performances, fitness/yoga, reading/relaxation, and nature education. In addition, we gave a specific example of a community commons in Berkeley, called Peralta community garden. Finally, we outlined reasons that volunteering and service learning opportunities are cool, i.e. good for the individual and the community, along with ways they can support the project as it develops.
It was great to visit the school! The students were very welcoming and inspiring to us. We were very pleased to have about 15 students join us during their leadership class in the library to learn about the project and potential volunteer opportunities. Some of the students even offered to recruit their friends! When asked what they would like to see change in their community, many students had very insightful responses. Some mentioned there is a lot of garbage strewn about the community, a lot of abandoned buildings, and they would like to see this change. In addition, several commented that there isn’t much to do in Mart for young people, such as go to the movies or a bowling alley.
We had them sign in with their preferred contact information (email or phone). Unfortunately, the students are not able to check their email from school, so many of them provided their phone numbers instead. We were able to forward the power point presentation on to those with email so they could refer back to it later and pass the information along to their friends and/or family.
From there, we went to the donut shop for some breakfast and spoke with the owner, a man originally from Cambodia, who had moved to Mart from Houston. He was excited to learn about the art co-op, as he hadn’t heard about it before our brief visit. As a business owner, he was understandably interested in anything that could bolster customers in the restaurants and retail stores of Mart. He also spoke endearingly about Mart being a “safe” place to live, mentioning that if you should forget to lock your doors; most likely no one will take advantage of this.
With fresh kolaches to go, we headed over to the art co-op to meet with Mrs. Davis, one of the library board members to discuss the revised plan. She spoke very candidly about an overarching concern that the board is experiencing. In short, in general, the group is concerned that the project may break ground and then never come to fruition. Paula was able to address the concern and continue facilitating the discussion towards next steps. She reassured Mrs. Davis that no one would be coming in with shovels until the fiscal requirements for the project were secured. In addition, we discussed the fact that the plan is conceptual and needs to be agreed upon before we can really continue to move forward with this projected spot. By continuing long-distance communication with the board (via email and with Mrs. Davis as an intermediary since our meeting on the 18th), we hope to set a deadline for approval of the conceptual plan for sometime near the first week of November.
We visited the high school again for lunch, and were surprised and pleased that several students readily approached us to “see what we were up to”. Once again, it was a great visit and we were very impressed with the maturity and ambition of the students. A couple of other interesting observations that we made while visiting ~ despite the fact that these children are growing up in a small/rural community does not make them devoid of “issues”. For example, we noticed that one student was pregnant and wondered what type of services and/or support may be available in Mart for teen parents. In addition, we wondered if there might be any groups available for LGBT and questioning students. We learned shortly after, that, No, there are not. So much “room” for it! Wouldn’t it be great to have social work final field placements in rural communities such as Mart? We also observed that most of the students who approached us were African American/Black. Interesting observations…
We also made a couple other visits during our time in Mart.
On the way to visit the black cemetery, we hooked up with Paula’s adult niece as Paula was snapping photographs in her neighborhood. She accompanied us for the rest of the afternoon as we drove around town. The cemeteries…First of all, it is extremely disheartening/frightening/overwhelming that the cemeteries are still actively segregated in today’s society. Not only do they exist, but there is such disparity regarding the land and the upkeep. For example, there is a popular “dump site” just behind the black cemetery in the woods. As Paula went on snapping her photos, her niece commented that we should send them to the local newspaper to print and get the community all riled up. I agree! Maybe the energy would lead to change!
We were also fortunate enough to be able to visit Mrs. Handy, a 103 year old retired teacher! She is living in her home, and she was kind enough to share some stories with us about her time in college. If my memory serves me, she was the first African American female to graduate from Huston Tillotson in Austin. She also had plenty of good questions for us, and graciously invited us back for a visit!
I think it is great that you were able to engage the high school students. It sounded like they had several ideas about what the community is lacking - it is interesting to get their perspective because most of the community members we have been working with are in older generations. Youth are also important in terms of sustainability for these projects. You mentioned that many of the students coming up to you were African-American; what was the composition of the Leadership class?
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting, too, that the students are not able to check email at school - this may be the only place they have access to certain types of media but they do not have full access there!
It sounds like yall had a very eventful in rewarding day in Mart. You mentioned that older members of the community are particularly interested in the garden, and that your visits to the high school also seemed to generate some interest with the youth. Do you think that the older members would be willing to work and coordinate with younger students, and visa versa? It seems like there could be a lot of potential for developing cross-generational relationships towards a common project. What could be some steps that could be taken to potentially facilitate this dynamic?
ReplyDelete