I am More Than One Story
Center High School

Center, CO

Amount Requested: $1,500

Donation Amount: $300

I am requesting funds to implement a project in my high school Language Development classes. This will be an ongoing unit in which students create an end-of-unit project which will be presented at a cultural night. The funds will be used for materials so that students are able to create a choice product which could include anything from trifold poster boards with pictures, poetry, journals, a photo essay, an audio recording of interviews, all the way to a digital presentation. Part of this unit and project is the deep dive into multiple cultures represented in the United States to expose students to diversity and equity across the country. My students live a beautiful and culturally rich pocket in the San Luis Valley, but they rarely have the opportunity to see the positive impacts of diversity and equity. Often, unless they seek out the knowledge on their own, they are unaware of how their experiences mirror that of many cultures in the US. That being said, the students will be researching their own cultures through multiple perspectives including traditional research methods and interviews with people in their communities and families. They will be exposed to other cultures through the use of memoirs, novels, graphic novels, articles, speeches, and TedTalks. A large portion of funds being requested will go to buying novels, memoirs, and graphic novels written by people of color. The remainder of the funds will go to purchasing materials based on student-choice products they develop throughout the unit.