It can be challenging to find outlets for 中学 students like Sam and her peers, who care deeply about current events and social issues, to learn about these larger topics in age-appropriate ways, to build valuable 宣传 skills, and to make their young voices heard. This is where ESSA—Ellis Students for Social Action—comes in.

Guided by School Counselor Karen Boyer and Mathematics Teacher and Department Chair Cara LaRoche, ESSA每隔一周开一次会. Students talk about current events, 气候变化, 文化传统, 宣传, and allyship around student areas of interest with Ms. 博耶和夫人. LaRoche, who work with them to learn more about the topic, 发展的角度, and think about how to share their knowledge with others.

“第一天早上. LaRoche talked about it was in the first few days of school and we were deciding what clubs we wanted to be in,莎玛莎说. “I’m also really passionate about 气候变化 and that was one of the main focuses they were talking about at the start of the school year. I think that’s why I decided to join.”

Fifth grade is the earliest a student can join ESSA; the club is open to students through eighth grade. Samantha said she has also enjoyed learning about the holiday traditions of different cultures, but that she especially appreciated the group’s conversation—led by Middle and 上学校 History Teacher Kolby Rudd as a two-part informational discussion—about the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Ms. 博耶和夫人. LaRoche说 that co-advising ESSA allows them to dig deeper into students’ topics of interest than they often can in their day-to-day work. It also allows them to do that in fun, 有意义的, and developmentally appropriate ways, helping students build on skills—especially presentation skills—they gain through classroom instruction.

“They’re learning that they can feel passionate about something, and how to communicate what the issue is to other people in a way that’s understandable,” Ms. LaRoche说. “It just dovetails nicely into what they’re learning in their classes, and supports those presentation skills. We also work with them on the softer skills of listening, and learning that having more information can help build empathy and understanding around things they might not be familiar with.”

ESSA has given 中学 students a place to learn about their own identifiers, 包括宗教, 原产国, 残疾, 和更多的. 在过去的几年里, students have taught their peers about their own experiences with ADHD and speech disorders. Those presentations were both empowering for the student presenters, and educational for their classmates, who then had a safe space to ask questions and learn more. 上学校 students sometimes visit to talk about the work their clubs are doing, and ESSA students work with younger grades, 太. 去年春天, ESSA developed a program about recycling for 较低的学校 students and presented it to those classes.

“I got to play a little recycling game with them and others read books to the pre-kindergarteners. This is my favorite experience because I got to interact with the audience that I was speaking to,” said seventh grader Roxie Fink, who has been in ESSA since fifth grade. “It was also a learning experience because I had to explain a difficult topic: how long it takes plastic to decompose. ESSA had to do this with easier words and ideas that younger kids could comprehend.”

Ms. Boyer said it speaks to the power of the social milieu in Ellis that so many students want to be part of ESSA. 她说，她和她的妻子. LaRoche have designed the club to be a safe space, so that when something is happening out in the world that is dysregulating, students can ask questions and learn more.

“To me, one of the big things that comes out of this is helping them realize knowledge is power,” Ms. LaRoche说. “We try to take [the students’] lead on what they’re curious about based on what they’ve heard in the news, or what they hear others talk about, and we put parameters in place to make sure we’re having a good discussion where everyone feels safe. The more informed you are, the more you can decide what you want to do about it.”