ROLE MODELS FOR YOUR STUDENTS
This issue contains several pieces by young people who are doing great things for themselves and for others.

Activity #1
Step A: Hand out NYC to the group and ask them to look for a story by a teenager that describes how he or she is accomplishing positive things. You should read these stories beforehand. Here’s a list of some of these stories:

“Balancing Mind and Spirit” on page 6

“A Black Woman in Mongolia” on page 7 (This story differs from the rest. It is a profile of a young woman, not a first person description of an experience.)

“My Summer in Politics” on page 14

“Going Back to Preschool” on page 15

“My Escape from High School” on page 22

(ALTERNATIVE: You can assign stories for members to read; this ensures each story is read and discussed. It also lets you be strategic in linking students to stories. For example, you can assign Gamal Jones’s story on working in a preschool to one or more guys in the group to get them thinking about stereotypes and gender roles.)

Step B: Once they find a story have them read it silently.
When they are done ask for volunteers to sum up their story. (You can ask for volunteers by prompting “Who read “title of story?” or by calling on students individually.)
As part of their summary ask them to state what the teen is doing that impresses them or does not impress them. And ask them if there was any part of the story that stood out for them because it was funny or realistic or unrealistic or described something they are interested in doing.
After each summary ask the rest of the group what they think of the writer and the writer’s experiences. If they could ask the writer one question about their experience what would it be? (You can fortify this last question with some sample questions. “Does anyone ever tease Gamal for working in a preschool? Did Desiree ever get bored working in a politician’s office? Did the young woman profiled in the Peace Corps ever feel afraid in Mongolia?)