Clarke Central High School English department teacher Andy Dean stands outside his classroom Oct. 11. Dean hopes to give his students a chance to speak with City council members on issues the Athens community faces by presenting projects to Athens policymakers made by students. “I think it would be extraordinarily validating to the students to say, ‘Hey, you know, we created that change’ Because when people understand that their voice actually can do something, that’s very, very empowering,” Dean said. Photo by Naomi Hendershot
Clarke Central High School English department teacher Andy Dean will be engaging his students in the following months in a research project funded by the Eve Carson learning-service grant.
Clarke Central High School English department teacher Andy Dean was granted the Eve Carson learning service grant by the Foundation for Excellence in public education in the Clarke County School District and will be engaging his students in a research-based project in the coming months.
“I applied for the Eve Carson Service Learning Grant, which does have a $1,000 award attached to it. Now I’m getting ready to start implementing that process that I laid out in the grant proposal,” Dean said.
The Eve-Carson Service Learning Grant is a researched-based grant intended for students to find a problem in their community they see as important then write a policy memo that will be presented to policymakers in March of 2020 (specific date has not been determined by Dean yet).
“The students will ultimately write a policy memo that will suggest a way that a politician or community groups could address an issue that is facing Athens. It’s an actionable plan that somebody can use to help alleviate, fix, solve or just kind of redirect a problem that’s occurring within our community,” Dean said.
Dean hopes to improve and engage his students in the writing and research process through this grant.
“(My hope is) to engage as many of my students as possible, on all levels. In the Civic process, but also to have them become better writers because they are writing for an actual audience, as opposed to just writing to like a vacuum, or they’re just writing an essay that they turn into a teacher,” Dean said.
Clarke Central High School English department teacher Andrew Dean instructs his fifth-period class on Oct. 15. Dean hopes to give his students a chance to speak with City council members on issues the Athens community faces by presenting projects to Athens policymakers made by students. “ I think it would be extraordinarily validating to the students to say, ‘Hey, you know, we created that change’ Because when people understand that their voice actually can do something, that’s very, very empowering,” Dean said. Photo by Naomi Hendershot
CCHS junior Anaiah Aziabor is eager to get more involved with her community through this project.
“I actually am excited about it, it lets me find out more about my community and it forces me to get out there and see how I can make a change at my age,” Azaibor said. “Whether it’s community service or me helping out with food drives, things of a sort. So I’m excited to be able to talk to people who have an important voice in my community,” Azaibor said.
Once students finish the project in March of 2020, there will be an event held for the students to present their research projects to nonprofits and Athens policymakers, in hopes to invoke change within the Athens community.
“Ultimately, we’ll have an evening, where I invite community members to come to look at the proposals and talk to the students about it,” Dean said. “Then hopefully create some connections between our students, and not only policymakers but also nonprofits that are actually doing these things.”
