National Civics Day
It is hard for many of us to imagine trying to complete highschool if the electricity or internet at home is not always on. Or, if home isn’t always guaranteed. When life itself is a struggle, you don’t often see leadership modeled much less think of yourself as a future leader.
Path to College thinks differently. And, compassionate future leaders are being born.
We envision a world where genius, leadership, and excellence are cultivated in the most overlooked students in our community.
From the moment Path to College begins student recruitment, we seek students who want to do good and go far. One of the ways we identify a potentially civically-minded student is the essay we ask them to write. We challenge young people to think about how they would improve their own community if given a chance. Perhaps they have never been asked this question. Perhaps they have never considered that they could have a voice in this important issue! Our experience is that they have a lot to say, and the dream of making a difference begins with this simple question.
We have created a three-part program that gives underserved students a chance to develop the leadership skills available to their affluent peers and access to community leaders who look like them!
Students attend the first orientation session and we begin what will be a three-year conversation about community solutions and issues. Together, we identify local issues and we empower and encourage the students to work in groups to think and research solutions. Friendships begin and timid students begin to open up.
Over the next years of the Path to College Fellowship, sophomores and juniors work on their proposals and attend instructional sessions and a boot camp. Many skills are obtained: working in a group, concretizing ideas, research, presentation, public speaking and perseverance. They gain skills and confidence.
These preparations lead to Community Impact Night. This is an exciting evening that they are prepared for! Student groups present in front of parents and our local elected officials. Student groups present their community solutions as a group using the skills they have learned, and the panel of officials votes for the winners. It is a moment in the spotlight that their own hard work created a path.
Our own dream for the natural next stage is to work with the winning groups to launch their solutions as social engagement projects. Though we aren’t to this level yet, we connect students through our service opportunities with other Palm Beach partners like Environmental Resource Management, Transportation Planning Agency, Feeding South Florida, Supervisor of Elections, Clerk and Comptroller, etc. This way, they continue to envision themselves as “solutionaries” and participate in positive change so that they learn about the good that is happening in their community. Organically, we see the students breaking off and following their passions for civic engagement.
Community Impact Night leads to Civic Engagement Day. This exciting full day intends to introduce fellows to the people and processes making their local government work. It is a powerful exercise where students sit in the seats of their potential future as leaders and think about who they are, who they want to be, who they are becoming, and how they will improve their communities.
The day includes witnessing and participating in local governmental processes and is hosted by the people charged with leading. Assistant County Administrator Todd Bonlarron is the Path to College host for the day. It begins with the Supervisor of Elections, Wendy Sartory Link, giving a voting demonstration. Next, the Palm Tran bus ride is an opportunity to discuss public transportation and the issue of mobility, which leads to a discussion on Transportation City Planning.
After lunch at the Robert and Pat Johnson Historic Courthouse, students take part in a Panel Discussion with PBC Constitutional Officers and School Board Leadership: Commissioner Mack Bernard, Judge Bradley Harper, School Board Member Erica Whitfield, and Clerk of Courts Joseph Russo. In addition, career panels focused on legal and civil engineering take place led by Verdenia Baker.
At the start of the day, student volunteers filmed Public Service Announcements on topics of community concern. The day culminates with a Mock Commission meeting and the viewing of student-produced Public Service Announcements.
It is an unforgettable experience and a culmination for students to think about community solutions and envision service careers, meet Community Leaders, and envision a future in which they are the change and decision-makers.
