The Pass It On Project Road Trip

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

We are part of a network of high-performing college-preparatory public charter schools. 83% of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch. We begin educating students about the importance of college from day one and continue doing so through college readiness activities throughout middle and high school. The goal is for freshman year of college to become a natural extension of graduating from high school. We serve students in grades 5-9, and this particular project will benefit 9th grade students.

The idea for The Pass It On Project came from a desire to educate our students in social justice, civil rights, and activism. The Pass It On Project is a semester-long study of the American Civil Rights Movement, delving into the ideas of race, social justice, and youth empowerment. It is an experiment in creating a younger generation of honest witnesses who, when faced with injustice, will feel compelled to act, and whose actions are strengthened by their own understanding of history. This project ties in with our college preparatory mission in addressing current events, history standards, and giving our students the experiences of touring college campuses and famous historical sites. Activities like visiting the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, the site of MLK's assassination in Memphis, and meeting veterans of the movement broaden our students' horizons and prepare them to interact with history in a meaningful and lasting way. Throughout the project, we have traveled to study the movement in Washington, DC and New York City and spend approximately four hours a week studying the history of the civil rights movement and current events relating to civil rights issues of today.

The course will culminate in July, when we will pile into a bus for a road trip through the American South, visiting places of historical significance that students have selected based on their coursework. Each pair of students is assigned to a city for which they will plan the entire stay in that place, from housing to food to sightseeing to community service projects. We need a bus to take us from Brooklyn to Birmingham and back! We are unable to pay for this expense ourselves, so are looking for your help.

The best way we can describe the impact of this project is to let our students speak. Here are some of their thoughts so far: "My favorite activity has been The Pass It On Project. Being in that program has helped me learn so many things about the Civil Rights Movement. I have participated in very productive and intriguing conversations with my peers about events that happened during that time period or recently. It is always interesting to hear other people’s opinions.” “I have enjoyed the various trips we have been on. They have forced me to think about ways that we need to change. The class makes me think. Sometimes it’s sad, but I think that’s okay.” “Going to Washington, DC was amazing. I didn’t realize all of the awful things that have happened in this country. I am looking forward to our summer roadtrip.”