On October 2, Ithaca High School (IHS) 10th-grade students spent the day learning from their peers during the Unsilencing Systemic Racism event. Planned and led by a group of 11th- and 12th-grade students, the event featured student-developed lessons exploring how systemic racism has shaped our history and continues to affect our lives today.
The 10th graders rotated through six 30-minute lessons on topics including:
Emmett Till and Modern-Day Lynching: How racial violence from the past continues in different forms today
Systemic Racism in the Healthcare System: How bias affects the care Black women receive, from Henrietta Lacks to Serena Williams’ childbirth experience
Transatlantic Slave Trade vs. What Is Taught: How the full history compares with state standards, and why students should dig deeper
Adultification of Black Children: How Black children are often perceived and treated as older than they are
“The Talk”: The conversations many parents have with their children of color about how the world may see and treat them
Voter Suppression: How barriers ranging from literacy tests to poll taxes restricted access to voting, and how the issue persists today
The idea for the event took shape over the summer, when The Village at Ithaca took nine Tompkins County students to Montgomery, Selma, and Tuskegee, Alabama, to visit places that changed the course of history. One stop was the Legacy Museum, founded by Bryan Stevenson, which traces the history of racial injustice in America.
IHS 11th grader Kaylie Abreu Tavarez participated in the trip and returned to Ithaca eager to share what she had learned.
“If you aren’t aware of history, you aren’t aware of the world we live in,” Kaylie said. “As humans, we owe it to each other to be aware, and try to dismantle these systems where we can make the most change.”
Kaylie, along with her sister Haylie, a 12th grader, and Sarah Ostrom, an IHS English teacher, wanted to turn those lessons into something impactful for their classmates. They invited other students to join the effort, including those who had taken an honest look at their own privilege or had experienced discrimination.
These students were Jordyn Ward, Corallus Meeks, Niccolo Barseghyan, Ozzy Nguyen, Benjamin Peralta, Josephine Holt, Shy'Von Williams, Labronze (BJ) McMillan, Sonia Enns, Samana Darnal, Olivia Orinda, and Judah Kischnick. They were supported by educators Sarah Ostrom, Kate Hooks, and Sarah Wolff from Ithaca High School and The Village at Ithaca.
The student-educators selected their topics, conducted research, and developed their own lessons. They also met with 10th-grade English teachers and administrators to explain and advocate for their project. Much of the work happened outside the school day, during evenings and weekends.
Kaylie said the group took its research seriously to ensure the information they shared was accurate. They kept the group motivated with regular meetings, group chats, and practicing gratitude and celebrating one another and their work along the way.
“Our student-educators created a community committed to teaching about topics that, while heavy, must be more centered in schools,” Ostrom said. “This work was challenging, demanding, and incredibly joyful.”
The day ended with the whole 10th-grade class gathering to watch Restoring Joy, a film by The Village at Ithaca made in collaboration with Ithaca College Park Scholars. The film tells the stories of Ithaca City School District (ICSD) students of color, exploring how systemic racism has suppressed their joy and how community and connection can help heal.
Kaylie hoped the film would “flip a switch” for her classmates, helping them recognize patterns of injustice, call out injustice when it happens, and remember they are all in this together.
As she put it, “You cannot love a neighbor whom you don’t know who you don’t understand, and who nobody has taught you to try and understand.”
“We’re grateful for the support of the ICSD in bringing this unique, student-led, peer-to-peer learning opportunity to 10th graders,” Ostrom said. “We plan to continue this important work.”