THE BURLINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT RACIAL JUSTICE ACADEMY was founded in the Spring of 2021 to address systemic racism in schools, build youth leadership capacity, solidify youth-adult partnerships in our school district and provide a healing space for students of the global majority. Youth are financially compensated to serve as consultants to the school district, organize for change, and to share their stories. Scroll down to view the amazing work of the youth leaders over the past 4 years!
SAVE THE DATES! Pending funding the Summer Racial Justice Academy 5 will happen June 30-July 18th 2025 If you are an BSD student in grade 6-12 apply here. Interviews will happen in May 2025
2021 Seven Days Article: At new summer academy Burlington students of color share stories and learn leadership skills
“Racial Justice is working in solidarity with each other to create change, growth and equity. It is listening and sharing and using what we learn to dismantle all systems of oppression.” – Lily Besaw, SRJA Student Leader 2021
Recommendations for Change: Youth leaders at SRJA consult the school district and work to dismantle systemic racism. At the heart of their work are creating recommendations for change at BSD. Youth organizers use YPAR (Youth-led Participatory Action Research) to name a problem, collect and analyze data, brainstorm solutions and present their recommendations for change to school leadership as part of their capstone projects.
SRJA4 Recommendations for Change
SRJA3 Recommendations for Change
- The Real Support Student Need
- A New Insight into Anti-Racists Teaching Practices
- Redefining Staff Accountability at BSD
- Peer Mediators at BHS
SRJA2 Recommendations for Change
SRJA1 Recommendations for Change
Public Service Announcements (PSAs): SRJA4 students reviewed BSD HHB data and worked to address these issues through the creation of a series of PSAs to be shared with public audiences and promote mindset shifts.
Capstone Projects: On Day 1 of SRJA students choose passions projects and devote a majority of their work time towards organizing for change through Art-ivism (Arts Activism), Social Justice Education, Youth Organizing, Documentation, & Community Partner Consultancies. Read this article from SRJA2 written by our community partner from Up for Learning to get a glimpse of the capstone project presentations and check out the plethora of youth work samples.
SRJA4 Capstone Presentation Slides
SRJA3 Capstone Presentation Slides
Art-ivism Capstone: Social Justice Activism meets Visual Art and Slam Poetry where students create original pieces that move their audiences and emphasize their messages.
On Left – Visual Art Student Sample with Artist in Residents, Juniper Creative Arts
Below – Original Slam Poems by SRJA Artivists
What it means to be Black-Slam Poem SRJA3
“A Story of Anti-Asian Discrimination” SRJA3
Social Education: Students visit elementary summer school programs and teach lessons on race and develop Professional Development Materials for educators.
Student-Made Lesson Plans:
Student Created Documentation Video SRJA1
“An ah-ha moment I had was when I realized that we are all thinking the same thing. We all want to make a difference even if it is the little change in the classroom. Something that stands out to me is that everyone supports each other and I know that we don’t know each other well but we still know how to respect each other and that is really great.” – Nadia Sylla, SRJA Student
“Something I got out of the experience was connecting with people, conversations we had, coming out of this program with a better understanding of race, how I can make a positive impact and how I can set an example.” – SRJA Student Leader 2021
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION WORK: Students worked to create teaching videos to stop discrimination, bullying and harassment in our schools.
“Students have a lot more to worry about than what the school thinks. Some students have more to worry about than others, usually non-white. We have to worry about racism on top of homework.” –Yacin Nour, SRJA Student
Anti-Bullying Facts Video 2023
Restorative Practices is a tool to strengthen relationships and build community connections. At the SRJA students used Circle Practice as a way to share commonalities and differences and to relate to each other by sharing stories in a safe and vulnerable space.
” I felt that everyone in the room is connected in a way. When we were in circle we were using the talking piece. I agreed with a lot of stuff like how as it gets closer to you the more you forget what you wanted to say and get butterflies.” – Binti Hussein, SRJA Student
Filed Under: Equity Stories, Uncategorized
