Students interested in social justice and how they can effectively campaign about issues they’re passionate about will have an exciting opportunity to engage with the local community and build strategies that will last throughout the year.
Northwestern’s Leadership and Community Engagement is partnering with Evanston Township High School to host a full day’s training from 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. on Friday, October 21, open to all interested students. Participating students will have the chance to explore systemic social change with particular focus on social justice.
The day begins with an overview of the power and systems in place today. Afterwards, students are given time to talk about their own passions before consolidating into several small groups with similar focuses. These small groups are the same throughout the day as students are given an overview of skills, such as identifying problems, developing strategies and solutions, and identifying target audiences. They can then practice applying these skills in their small groups.
While this training may take away from class time, it is well worth it for the skills and personal development. By the end of the day, students have the rough skeleton of a campaign focused around a specific issue that they can implement throughout the year. Besides this, Northwestern students form connections with high school student leaders who have the same desire for change, learning from one another and growing side by side.
Beyond the October 21 event, keep an eye out for the Social Justice Advocacy Fellowship in winter quarter. The long term fellowship has students meet once a week to discuss the same issues and engage in the same training with an added layer: long-term community engagement. Students meet with community leaders in the area that they are interested in and have constant communication, hopefully resulting in a fully realized campaign that students can carry out in spring quarter.
For more information or to register for an event, visit the Northwestern Leadership and Community Engagement webpage.