Rise Up & Write
Supporting Youth Activist Writers
Rise Up & Write — a youth advocacy writing summer camp from the Greater Madison Writing Project — started in the summer of 2017 and will be growing and expanding in summer of 2018. If you haven’t already, read up on the blog post by Gwyneth Hughes “Rise Up & Write — Supporting and Elevating Youth Advocacy” for a little bit about what last summer was all about. Come back here and read on to find out…
What are we going to do next?
I shouldn’t have been surprised by this question. It was the last day of my new summer camp, Rise Up & Write, and I had really only thought through programing the two weeks of camp that we had together. As we came to a close we wanted to hold feedback sessions to hear what we could improve upon for next summer; the students, however, only really wanted to talk about what we were going to do next. We were amazed at their engagement and dedication throughout the two weeks; we hoped their work at Rise Up & Write would inspire them to keep going and stay connected, but we knew that this doesn’t usually happen. Bonded with their small community of advocate-writers and inspired by the extraordinary amount of work and learning they accomplished in just two weeks — we were all sad to be leaving and wishing for more time together.
Where do we go from here?
Their question echoed through my tired brain without a clear answer. We had just spent two weeks together and our time was packed. Students researched a human rights issue and worked through several models to understand the issues root causes, intersectionality, and relationships. They brainstormed, organized, and published three pieces to unique audiences: their peers, community, and a changemaker. They met with four guest speakers — professional writers and communicators — and learned about how to use writing to effect change. They worked on their own, with partners, in small groups, and as a large group. Some students built web pages, started facebook groups, made posters, published letters to the editor. They designed buttons to capture the message of their campaign. We celebrated all of this work and learning with an crowded open house to share their writing. It had been a jam packed two-weeks. (Whew — it was over and I was going to be able to catch my breath, but wait …)
Now what?
The students wouldn’t leave without setting dates to get back together throughout the school year. I obliged — booking meeting rooms and agreeing to provide pizza — but I imagined that their enthusiasm would fizzle as they went back to school, started jobs, attended practices and club meetings. I was wrong. I was pleasantly surprised when at the start of a busy school year, a majority of the students showed up to our first meeting.
I have heard social justice work described as brushing your teeth. It isn’t something that reaches an end point. Once you start doing it, it becomes a part of your every day. The students were looking for new and more complex ways of engaging in advocacy and activism. Their questions and dedication propelled me to learn more to support their ongoing work.
I spent the year learning about innovative forms of activism and studying frameworks for supporting youth leadership. Our school year meetings provided time to share ideas and get feedback from the students about our plans for what was next. They also inspired and showed me what they needed by sharing the various ways in which they were all moving forward. Throughout the school year, students published work in local magazines, took on new issues to research, organized and led school walkouts, they created curriculum and designed learning opportunities for their peers, they served as youth representatives for various local organizations. I learned as much from them as I did from my research.
And they didn’t just want to keep meeting during the school year, they wanted to come back to camp next summer.
What else can we do?
The inspiration to keep going has led to a new offering for Rise Up & Write: Advocacy to Activism. Building on the students knowledge and skills developed in our inaugural summer, Advocacy to Activism will work on three distinct threads I have come to believe are key to effective and sustainable activism: knowledge of self, knowledge of issue, and knowledge of changemaking. Together we will write, research, discuss, and create. We will learn from activists, writers, teachers, and each other. It is certain that we will become frustrated and inspired, feel the challenge of personal growth, and the expansion of learning from ourselves and others. If you are in the Madison area and want to see how this thing turns out, join us for our end of camp celebration (Friday, August 16 from 12:30–2:00 PM at Union South). You can follow along on our summer journey here and come back to the blog in the fall for a recap of Advocacy to Activism. Our community of Rise Up & Writers will build the path of what comes next.
