Harmony Devoe. Photo courtesy
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Are the children okay?
This question mainly occupies the minds of parents, educators and young people themselves.
Auishma Pradhan. Photo courtesy
Today, students are still grappling with the lingering effects of the Covid pandemic, during which their schools closed and their education continued on its own or, in many cases, their education and development stalled. Significant Covid-related learning gaps continue to pose a challenge for many students.
As graduation and summer approach, Vermont Conversation wanted to hear from students in their own words about their lives, concerns, and challenges. We spoke with four high school students from across Vermont, all volunteers with Up for Learning, a nonprofit that brings together youth and adults to transform education with a focus on equity and justice.
The invited students are: Auishma Pradhan, a South Burlington High School junior who is a member of the Winooski Anti-Racism Steering Committee; Harwood Union High School freshman Harmony Devoe, who was recently named Vermont’s first youth poet laureate; Jacoby Soter, a sophomore at Bellows Free Academy in St. Albans and a student member of the Maple Run School Board; and Mea Ree Jan, a junior at Winooski High School and the Essex Technology Center, who is also a member of the Winooski Anti-Racism Steering Committee.
Jacoby Soter. Photo courtesy
The students made it clear that the world’s problems do not end at school. Failed school budgets, racism and Israel’s war in Gaza were top of mind for many of them.
Soter said the effects of Covid on learning “are honestly much greater than the actual Covid crisis that lasted two years. “We are going to feel this for the next 10 years.”
He said he sees a “disconnect between (students) who were able to have people in the house and help them with Covid learning and everyone else. …There are a few kids who are really thriving and excelling socially, emotionally and in their academic career, and then there are all the others who are way behind.”
Among the problems Soter sees are an increase in vaping and substance abuse contributing to “behavioral issues within the school as many students do not feel safe with their peers due to those behavioral issues.”
Auishma Pradhan said she is deeply concerned and affected by the war between Israel and Gaza. “This is the kind of education that should be taught in school, where it’s very immediate and happening right now.” She said “students would want to know about this.” “Not well.”
“We should be able to show our support,” he added.
Mea Ree Jan. Photo courtesy
Mea Ree Jan agreed and said she sympathized with the suffering Palestinians. She noted that her family “comes from a long history of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.” She is now studying healthcare and hopes to work with a group like Doctors Without Borders. “I wish I could help directly.”
Several of the students attend schools whose budgets have been rejected multiple times. Soter said people are protesting tax increases by voting against school budgets, but “it only affects students because people in Montpelier don’t take those no’s as negatively as students do.”
Vermont Youth Poet Laureate Harmony Devoe read one of her poems. “It’s about being Asian and being proud of my heritage,” she explained. “I wrote it when there were a lot of anti-Asian hate moments in the news. And that just affected me mentally.”
Almond eyes
By Harmony Belle Devoe
You are born
And in this life of
almond eyes
caramel skin
dark chocolate hair
A little color
you grow
And in this life of
language change
Stringed Phrase Beads
“Where are you really from?”
You hear about gunshots
On the streets
Adzuki bean sweets
Surrenders and defeats
Bow down at the white man’s feet.
They gave you your life
Now you pretend
You don’t feel the knife cuts.
They colonize their Asian wives
now we rise
They should do more than apologize.
Your mistakes will never be right
We realize
We must fight for these rights.
we descend
like the gods
and we grow
like the cherry tree
We disagree
We are not robots
and we know it
We can’t be controlled
we die
And from this life of
almond eyes
caramel skin
Darker chocolate hair
We went out
Our legacy;
Be proud
Of your Asian heritage
We will build the bridge
you will step on it
Maybe I have to fix it
Mentally
But finally,
This will be
Our legacy
I’m in my Asian soul
Full
From food and kitchen smells.
kare kare
chives
Halo Halo
Fragrance
Golden sun medallions
Sesame oil
we work
Endless
Relentlessly
For the greed of the West
Now
For equity, equality and peace
I’m in my Asian soul
my head held high
my almond eyes
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