Alex Epstein is a college student who, during high school, was compelled to help rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Using the tool of VOLUNTEER, Alex made multiple trips and engaged with the local community.
Alex took initiative and helped found NY2NO, or New York to New Orleans, to involve other young people in the revitalization of the New Orleans landscape.
This video is part of a series produced by Not In Our School's parent company, The Working Group, for the Institute for Advancing Unity. This series focus on extraordinary people whose personal choices have inspired others to join in tremendous collective achievements.
This lesson addresses the following Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies. You can have students look for these issues and examine them in themselves.
Arts & Culture
During a dance performance on stage, Jackie Rotman's music suddenly stopped. In response, members of the audience joined Jackie on stage and began dancing to show their support. Expanding on the idea that dance can help foster a positive atmosphere, Jackie began providing hip-hop classes free of charge to youth that would not otherwise be able to afford them.
Now with 10 chapters across the country, Everybody Dance Now! is a nonprofit organization that aims to transform the lives of youth through dance, leadership, and community.
This lesson addresses the following Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies. You can have students look for these issues and examine them in themselves.
Vajra Watson founded SAYS: Sacramento Area Youth Speaks to give young people a voice through hip hop and spoken word. “We underestimate young people,” Vajra says. "They're ready to grab the mic. Are we ready to listen?"
This lesson addresses the following SEL strategies and you can have students look for these issues and examine them in themselves.
Self-awareness: Poetry and spoken word are ways to build self-awareness in youth.
Social awareness: Vajra helps students become aware of social justice issues through the SAYS program.
Relationship skills: Vajra Watson fosters positive student relationships as the students work together to write poems.
Responsible Decision-making: Students make choices about the message they want to share in their writing.
Tadashi Nakamura is a 30 year old, fourth-generation Japanese American and second-generation filmmaker. Besides carrying on his parents’ work – his mother is writer/producer Karen L. Ishizuka and his father is director Robert A. Nakamura – Nakamura seeks to tell his community’s history to a new generation.
Nakamura recently completed A Song for Ourselves, the third film of a documentary trilogy about the early Asian American Movement. Currently screening in festivals and colleges around the U.S. and Canada, the film has won twelve awards for film excellence including four for Best Documentary Short. The first film of the trilogy wasYellow Brotherhood (2003), a personal documentary focused on the meaning of friendship and community through the Yellow Brotherhood youth organization, which was formed in the 1960s to combat youth drug use. The film won Best Documentary Short at the San Diego Asian Film Festival and has been screened at film festivals, colleges, and community events across the nation.
This skit can be used as part of the Not In Our School Student-Led Assembly Guide to launch an anti-bullying program in your school.
Adarsha Shivakumar and Apoorva Rangan are siblings that have used the power to TEACH rural Indians how to produce environmentally- and economically-sustainable fuel. After witnessing the devastation of local ecologies, Adarsha and Apoorva spent months in India convincing locals that processing a native fruit and using the byproducts as fuel presents a solution that balances human energy and local ecosystem needs.
This video is part of a series produced by Not In Our School's parent company, The Working Group, for the Institute for Advancing Unity. This series focus on extraordinary people whose personal choices have inspired others to join in tremendous collective achievements.
To turn on closed captioning for this film, first hit play and then go to the bottom right-hand corner and click: "CC"
Get the Quick Start Guide to start a Not In Our School Campaign in your school
Series Executive Producer: Edith Crawford
Concept Designer: Stephanie Francis
CEO, Institute for Advancing Unity: Dr. Robert M. Harris, Ph.D.
Florence Jones (1907-2003) was the spiritual leader and chief healer of the Winnemem Wintu tribe of Northern California. The Wintu have called the McCloud River Watershed near Mount Shasta home for more than 1000 years, but were not provided a reservation as gold miners and pioneers drove them away in the name of industry.
Although the Wintu’s numbers have dwindled from over 14,000 when contact with non-Natives was recorded to only 395, Jones has been at the forefront of a fight to save sacred sites and their way of live.
By learning and teaching to EMBRACE CULTURE, Jones was able to lead the Wintu in a successful bid to block the construction of a ski resort on sacred Wintu land.
This video is part of a series produced by Not In Our School’s parent company, The Working Group, for the Institute for Advancing Unity. This series focus on extraordinary people whose personal choices have inspired others to join in tremendous collective achievements.
To turn on closed captioning for this film, first hit play and then go to the bottom right-hand corner and click: "CC"
Get the Quick Start Guide to start a Not In Our School Campaign in your school
Series Executive Producer: Edith Crawford
Concept Designer: Stephanie Francis
CEO, Institute for Advancing Unity: Dr. Robert M. Harris, Ph.D.
Slater Jewell-Kemker is a 17-year-old filmmaker and reporter who celebrates the best of humanity, empowering young people to change the world with media and technology.
Through her work, Slater has empowered a global network of young environmentalists and met with important trendsetters and lawmakers. By using the tool of EXPRESS, Slater and the youth that join her are creating positive social change.
This video is part of a series produced by Not In Our School's parent company, The Working Group, for the Institute for Advancing Unity. This series focus on extraordinary people whose personal choices have inspired others to join in tremendous collective achievements.
To turn on closed captioning for this film, first hit play and then go to the bottom right-hand corner and click: "CC"
Get the Quick Start Guide to start a Not In Our School Campaign in your school
Series Executive Producer: Edith Crawford
Concept Designer: Stephanie Francis
CEO, Institute for Advancing Unity: Dr. Robert M. Harris, Ph.D.
Alex Epstein is a college student who, during high school, was compelled to help rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Using the tool of VOLUNTEER, Alex made multiple trips and engaged with the local community.
Alex took initiative and helped found NY2NO, or New York to New Orleans, to involve other young people in the revitalization of the New Orleans landscape.This video is part of a series produced by Not In Our School's parent company, The Working Group, for the Institute for Advancing Unity. This series focus on extraordinary people whose personal choices have inspired others to join in tremendous collective achievements.
Vajra Watson founded SAYS: Sacramento Area Youth Speaks to give young people a voice through hip hop and spoken word. "We underestimate young people," Vajra says. "They're ready to grab the mic. Are we ready to listen?"