Building Storehouses of KNOWLEDGE Through Field Experts
As a school, we are a community of learners who use reading, writing, listening, and speaking to deepen our content knowledge. On a regular basis, field experts from our greater community partner with teachers to educate our youth at Detroit Prep. Together, we make lasting impressions on our student body no matter what the grade level. The current 2023-2024 5th grade ELA Crews want to give a shout out to this year’s field experts who have continued to help us become experts on the topics of our Expedition modules.
Module 1: Athlete Leaders of Social Change
Khali Sweeney, Director, Downtown Boxing Gym was our expert role model who helped us relate and make connections to historical athletes who have broken barriers over time. Khali’s legacy directly inspired us because his game changing narrative taught us that we can achieve anything we set out to do just like him.
Module 2: Human Rights
Emily Beth Friedberg, United Auto Workers Union, UAW, integrated our lessons to promote social progress against the backdrop of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Esperanza Rising, the complex texts, embedded in this module’s unit of study. Her activism on local, national, and international stages to protect workers’ rights raised our commitment to be upstanders and respect the rights of our human family on a daily basis.
Module 3: Inequalities in America
Mary Kamidoi, survivor of WWII Japanese internment camp captivated students, shareholders, parents, and caretakers through impressionable storytelling. Mary’s adolescent experiences growing up in internment under FDR’s Executive Order 9066 led us to value the ways in which people work to make our world a better place. Her first hand account of what life was like before, during, and after internment opened the door for everyone to relate, compare, and draw conclusions about our responsibility to learn lessons from history.
To move Mary’s story forward, we interviewed community experts who specialize in social change. Our Activist Assembly spotlighted how each individual works to improve the fabric and quality of life for others here in Detroit. Their willingness to make themselves available, drove students to celebrate their efforts because they put others before themselves.
JJ Velez, Director of Public Spaces, Gilbert Foundation. We challenge you to visit one park once a month. It’ll make you happy! https://gilbertfamilyfoundation.org/about-gilbert-family-foundation/
Darraugh Collins, Site Director, Detroit, Food Rescue US. Does your food franchise have the capacity to become a donor? Do you have time to deliver food to feed the hungry? Are you interested in keeping food waste out of landfills and instead use it to solve food insecurity?, To learn more, go to: .https://foodrescue.us/site/food-rescue-us-detroit/https://foodrescue.us/site/food-rescue-us-detroit/ulti
Dr. Maureen Connolly, pediatrician, & Director of Henry Ford Health System’s School Based and Community Health Program.She advances the health and well being of her patients even in the most difficult situations because everyone deserves health care, protections, and social services that promote the best versions of ourselves. Visit and contribute: Do your Part:: they need/appreciate donations. https://www.henryford.com/services/lgbtq-health/transgender-health/services/primary-care
Jonathan Demers, contract lawyer, City of Detroit If you live in the area, connect with churches, your local colleges, and municipalities to see how you can rehab blight in your neighborhood, take action against bad landlords, start a business, or secure a grant to preserve the integrity of your neighborhood. Jonathan, as an expert, has been there, done that, did that and that’s why he is a great person for students to learn from https://detroitmi.gov/departments/law-department
Get behind the efforts of Bekah Gourley, Detroit Affiliate Director, I Support the Girlshttps://isupportthegirls.org/affiliates/detroit/. She ends period poverty for young girls and women at our own school and surrounding neighborhoods. Have you ever thrown a “period party” at work, your church, or school before? We’d love to talk to you if you are interested in helping. https://isupportthegirls.org/affiliates/detroit/
Faith Saenz and Alli Kelly, Engagement Strategists, ACLU. After their interview, we got little blue books that summarized the U.S.Constitution to extend our knowledge. Support the ACLU Fund for Michigan. Don’t put off tomorrow what you can do today to promote change because “Our rights can’t wait.” https://www.aclumich.org/en/biographies/faith-saenz
Module 4: Natural Disasters
Greg Martin, Director of Disaster Relief at Work, actively helps people and communities recover from natural disasters. The call to action behind this final module invites everyone to take precautions and prepare in advance. We are holding a bake sale to raise money for Greg’s mission. Last year, we raised a $1,000.00 for DRAW, his organization, and this year…. we intend to match that again! Do your part to help them too and donate if you can:: https://drawbuckets.org/
Learning to give back to our experts whether it be through our thoughts, actions, or deeds are all ways to prove up our duty to society and one another. We at Detroit Prep can’t do it alone and as a 5th grade class, we appreciate linking our learning to the outside world because it takes a CREW to “provide a world class, equitable education that will give all students a foundation of academic excellence and character development while fostering a love of learning and passion for exploring and fulfilling their extraordinary potential as learners, leaders, and world changers.”