Students across Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) enrolled in summer Freedom Schools marched around Lori Mann Carey Elementary School for the National Day of Social Action.
On July 15, students at MMSD’s Freedom Schools, a summer program focused on literacy, leadership and social justice offered through the Children’s Defense Fund, took to the surrounding neighborhood to raise awareness for youth mental health and well-being. This year marks the second year of the Freedom School at MMSD, as more students have shown interest.
“The first week of Freedom School, students engaged in an activity where they were able to share their thoughts and their opinions and their questions and their concerns that they had related to children’s well-being and mental health,” said Marisa Flowers, executive director and principal of Leopold Elementary.
This year’s theme was on children’s mental health and well-being. Discussions with the students over the coming weeks on how to organize resulted in using art as activism. Art, poems, and chants all centered on combining the theme with the organizing method.
A reception prior to the walk was held, during which students gave short performances on the theme. Commonly said between the groups was, “The children are well.”
The chant is inspired by the Children’s Defense Fund’s founder, Marian Wright Edelman, who founded the organization in 1973.
“Just thinking through, when there’s a question in the community around how things are going, really the children are like the canary in the coal mine,” Flowers said. “If the children are well, then the larger community is well as well.”
This year also saw an increase in kids interested in the six-week summer program. Students from across 17 schools in the district were in attendance this year. For Flowers, that helps speak to the power Freedom Schools have in the community.
“Yesterday, there was a student who needed to leave for an appointment, and I asked her if she was coming back. She said, ‘Of course I am because I love it here,’” Flowers said. “Wanting to go to an appointment, but then advocating to family to come back to experience the rest of the day really speaks to what she’s feeling and what she’s engaging in the program.”
Flowers also highlighted the servant leader interns (SLI) who lead classrooms. The SLIs come from a wide range of backgrounds. Not all are teachers, but have some connection with schools, be it with MMSD in a capacity or students in undergrad.
“It gives opportunities for folks to learn in different ways, and then identify if, you know, teaching in a sense is their passion,” Flowers said.
Another anecdote she shared, from one of the SLIs, was how they found Freedom School to be one of the most fulfilling experiences they had and “really put purpose in their passion.”
For Flowers, as principal, she works to figure out what she can pull from the summer program into Leopold Elementary in the fall as its principal — and what she can take from the school year back to the summer program.
