About 90 minutes into the first of four Massachusetts Civics Project Showcases, dozens of students from around western Massachusetts are preparing for a final round of feedback on their projects.
For this event, some researched and presented on the challenges they see in public transportation, the use of A.I., and mental health care access. Others looked at housing, safety and how students use media.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is hosting showcases over the next few weeks.
From the stage came an announcement of what was coming next.
"Community advisors please find your last project and let's begin."
State lawmakers, municipal employees, subject experts, parents and teachers are among those giving feedback to students.
Standing with her teammates from Westfield High School is 9th grader Chloe Callon. She explained that their project is about the dangers of roadway potholes.
"Based on our research, there's a lot of roads in Westfield that are particularly bad," Callon said pointing to some photos pasted to a display board.
"You know we want safe road conditions just to hopefully prevent any accidents or bad things happening," Callon said.
At any age, it's one thing to see a pothole, it's another to develop a mitigation plan. But with each topic, developing an action plan was the charge.
The team's research included speaking with the city Department of Public Works; they learned about the benefits of an app that alerts people to potholes.
The civics showcase and learning about civics and history is teaching students to speak up, Callon said.
"So it's kind of teaching us that younger people, when they notice a problem, they can reach out to decision makers," Callon said, "use their voice and actually make a change."
The projects that students pitched to their teachers a few months ago address some weighty problems — like limited transportation in rural areas, the need for more education on menstrual cycles and domestic violence.
The physical showcase, set up in a large conference hall at the MassMutual Center, looks a lot like a science fair.
With 80 teams, there are several rows of tables, holding handmade displays (printouts of research, images and graphs pasted to three-fold boards). Students stand behind the tables waiting for questions.
Standing by her display titled "Supporting Youth Through Education, Awareness, and Community Dialogue", Lezly Solis Lopez, a 10th grader at Mount Everett Regional High School in Sheffield, Mass., explained her focus.
She said while students are learning about the dangers, their communities have a lot of sway in how students perceive that information.
“So I really wanted to grasp on to that. I gathered my research. I facilitated a panel in my school’s auditorium," she said, asking panelists to discuss what roles different people play in prevention, what are the signs of substance abuse and what more can the community do?
"What our panelists really saw was that teachers are the front lines of this, day to day and it's really important what they see to help influence everyone," Solis Lopes said.
In another aisle of tables is Joshua Cotton, an 8th grader at Springfield Public Day Middle. His project is called POPS or "priority over public safety," and it's about group homes, Cotton said.
"I actually grew up living in a group home and I want people to know just because you live in a group home doesn't make you different from anyone else," Cotton said. "You're there there to meet your goals and be successful wherever you go."
Among the problems he identified with his research was an inconsistency in programs and staff training in 17 different group homes around the city.
"How can we have changes be successful in programs?" Cotton said, "how can we help people?"
Cotton then pulled out a plastic bag of Tootsie Pops. He was offering them to reviewers and others looking at his work, hoping people remembered his showcase.
Wandering between tables, meeting students and excitedly asking questions was Pedro Martinez, Massachusetts Education Commissioner.
"I just think there's nothing more valuable than students being able to get passionate about issues that are in their communities, issues that are in their schools, having the bravery to raise them up in this very public setting."
Developing a greater knowledge of civics and civic service has been in state's education guidelines since at least 2018, and as education officials in the state face a deadline to recommend new, post-MCAS assessments for students and coursework requirements — tied to graduation — civics are a part of that, Martinez said.
"I hear a lot from many individuals that we want our students not only academically prepared, we want them civically minded," he said adding that events like this showcase is a great way to allow students to elevate their voices.
