I once read a book of wisdom. It says to gain more wisdom, observe ants working. So, I did! I was astonished to see a multitude of ants working together carrying supplies to their destination. These ants seemed to know what they were doing. Their operation seemed organized. I wondered, “How do they know where to go, what to get, and who ordered their actions?” We have superiors who direct us. I kept watching to see if I could spot a leader. Sadly, I could not find one ant that led everyone in the mass.
Saturday, February 27, 2010, I got to observe another ant crowd. This time, they were ants from the Kent School District. They were our high school and middle school students working at the deployment of Bridging the Gap. These students distributed refurbished computers to 156 families, affecting 318 students in the Kent School District, who cannot afford to buy a home computer. Through the Kent School District Student Technology Educational Partnerships (STEP), we have 11 STEP student leaders who managed the deployment. At our planning meeting, prior to the deployment, I told them that they couldn’t do the job alone, they needed workers. I challenged each of them with the responsibility to recruit enough workers to work for them at the deployment. On the day of deployment, there were 54 student volunteers working under the direction of these STEP leaders to run a very smooth operation. They completed a day-long job in 4 hours from set-up to clean-up. It was amazing to watch them.
Students have power and talent to affect change, especially taking ownership of their own learning. They need opportunities, resources, and empowerment to make this happen. This is where teacher and administrators come in – to provide opportunities, to provide resources, and to emplower our students to change the world, one community at a time.
(originally posted March 16, 2010)
