Generation ROC: Local students shine at youth leadership conference

Part One:

Part Two:

ROCHESTER, N.Y. ( WROC ) — How can we take care of ourselves, our friends, and the world we live in? Full grown adults sometimes don’t even have the answers, but local students are giving it a good go!

Students in several classes at the East Rochester Union Free School District and the West Irondequoit Central School District were each hand selected to attend a conference at Nazareth University focusing on youth advocacy and immersive cultural education. The Launching Youth Leaders Action Conference–also known as LYLAC–featured student projects ranging from how to stand up for a good cause, increasing awareness for important local resources, or sharing cultural understanding between people.

First, we meet the students from East Rochester who focused on the truth behind colonization and slavery in the Americas. A group of seventh graders stepped into the shoes of characters they invented to imagine what that time may have felt like for a person of color and also to make sure history isn’t glossed over.

“[The Disney movie] Pocahontas was kind of like my anti-inspiration. I remember in Pocahontas, they didn’t mention influenza or even more of the racism that was going on. The violence ended immediately when John turned Pocahontas. I just thought none of that was really realistic, and if anything that would be what happens when you’re not looking too deep into it,” explains one student author, Connor Datkun.

“My story is about a girl named Adamahdeen, and she is from Sierra Leone, Africa. She goes out in the night and gets captured by slavers and gets sent on a boat to America. I think her life might have been rough and, like, scary,” says Carolyn Williams, another of the student authors.

“Slavery is something we all should know about and what happened and why it was wrong and also that it shouldn’t have happened. It’s important to know how scary it was for these people to go through it,” she goes on to say.

Their stories were about both surviving and thriving — finding the hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. For example, finding ways to connect with new people.

“Yes, my main character is losing stuff, but she’s also gaining friends and experiences and all this knowledge,” Connor says. “My characters couldn’t communicate directly, because obviously they have a big language barrier so I had the two communicate through drawings. I feel it was a creative way to do that, because I didn’t like how in Pocahontas they just started speaking English right away.”

“The idea of never giving up. I think that’s a really strong piece that I think everyone benefits from. The idea that everybody has their thing that they have to survive—those hard moments,” says their teacher, Gretchen Hendy.

The students also add they were able to feel proud of how well their stories came out to be selected for LYLAC.

“I don’t normally think of myself as a strong writer, and so I felt really appreciated when I got to go to the conference,” says another student writer, Alba Diaz. “I hope people learn to be appreciative of what they have, because they don’t know how much you need it until it’s gone.”

Next, to the West Irondequoit Central School District where a group of eighth grade students decided to raise awareness for mental health resources available in the Rochester area. The students recently read a book called “OCD Daniel” about a young man struggling with mental health issues. They then chose a character and gave them some advice.

“The character I chose really likes to be alone, so I offered her Ontario [Beach Park]. I chose there, because when I’m, like, overwhelmed, I like walking and listening to the waves,” explains Vivian Debes from Dake Jr. High School.

“The whole reason we, like, inserted ourselves into the stories and we wrote out what we would say was because we wanted to make sure that Daniel felt that he’s not the only one who’s struggling through whatever he’s going through,” adds classmate Raihana Beshir.

“I’m super proud that they took the risk in being interested and following through and just doing an amazing job,” says their English and humanities teacher, Lindsay Porter.

Looking across the district to Iroquois Middle finds an even younger group of participants making some big waves. A group of fourth grade students chose and presented issues to “stand up to” at LYLAC.

“My standup project was equity for students with disabilities. I feel like no matter what kind of disability you have, you deserve a good education,” says student Adriana Cassano.

“I chose to stand up to littering in our environment, because when I watched the Wall-E movie, I didn’t like it because it showed a world full of trash,” says classmate Greyson Gilbert. “I’ve made a pledge and I’m working on with two of my other friends to get a beach cleanup [up] and running.”

Their teacher, Jennifer Gottfried, says long before the invitation to the big conference, this advocacy program has been in her curriculum to teach you’re never too young to make a difference.

“This project tries to empower students to find what they’re passionate about and use their voices to fight for the change they wish to see in the community,” explains Gottfried.

In fact their projects were so impressive, they caught the eye of Senator Samra Brouk who plans to pay the 4th grade class a visit in June. The students say it’s great to be recognized and do well, especially standing shoulder to shoulder with the older kids.

“I learned that even if you were nervous, just go for it, because it’s going to be fine in the end,” says Adriana.

This story airs as a two-part series. Part two featuring the students from West Irondequoit airs Friday, May 17 on News 8 at Sunrise.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to RochesterFirst.