Elevating youth voice to affect change at MENTOR North Carolina
August 12, 2021
Recently, MENTOR North Carolina wrapped up its second virtual Social Justice Summer Academy (SJSA), with 26 high school students registering from across the state. Over the course of four weeks, students heard from experts on a variety of social justice issues, ranging from environmental justice to equity in education and LGBTQIA+ rights, learning and dialoguing about approaches to address injustices at the local, state and national levels. As part of the Academy, students were coached on developing issue-based policy proposals on a social justice issue of interest to them. SJSA concluded with a presentation from three teams to a group of panelists, including Renee Price, Orange County Commissioner, and DeWarren Langley, Executive Director at Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation, Inc., as well as Sonia Frischemeier, MENTOR North Carolina’s VP of External Affairs, and Atrayus Goode, President & CEO at MENTOR North Carolina. The students delivered their final presentations and fielded questions from panelists with poise, knowledge, and proof that they were ready to take their ideas back to their community and affect change.
Led by Charmaine Grafton, Chief of Staff at MENTOR North Carolina, SJSA was a team effort with the organization’s three summer interns, Amoni Broadie, Jaya Dayal, and Imani Williams. The interns were responsible for facilitating speaker-led sessions and activities, and developing and instructing on some sessions throughout the Academy covering mental health, student success, and language justice. Each intern assisted a group with their final presentations, which focused on mental health in schools, mental health centers, and LGBTQIA+ equality in sports. Including policy proposals in these presentations was a key objective of the program. Staff encouraged students to research to develop an effective and timely proposal that they could bring to their local representatives or state legislature. Students built their social justice foundation for three weeks, and took action through a policy lens in week four.
“I learned a lot about Social Justice during this year’s academy,” said Anthony Brown, rising tenth grade student at Northeast Guilford High. Brown attended this year’s academy through a recommendation from his mentoring program, Young Men of Excellence. “I especially enjoyed the breakout rooms – I could share my opinions and not be judged. SJSA was a safe space.”
SJSA is one element of MENTOR North Carolina’s work to elevate youth voice in affecting change. Next year, the team hopes to open this opportunity to students in South Carolina and be together in-person!
Author Description
Jaya Dayal grew up in Orlando, Florida, and will be attending UNC Chapel Hill this fall to study public health and education. Her involvement in a variety of service-based extracurriculars in high school, including a club focused on clean water accessibility, led her to apply to the Bank of America Student Leaders program in 2020. After completing the program, Jaya was nominated for MENTOR’s Excellence in Mentoring Honoree in Corporate Youth Leadership. This award allowed Jaya to participate in the 2021 National Mentoring Summit while serving with City Year Washington D.C., an AmeriCorps program focused on educational equity. Following the summit, Jaya connected with MENTOR NC, and had the opportunity to intern with the affiliate this summer.