By Lisa Carolin
For Chelsea High School freshman Dan Lin, the Breaking Barriers program is a great way to teach kids to be more empathetic.
“It’s a way to meet people living in another place and understand their similarities and differences,” said CHS freshman Ben Zivsak.
“It’s a way to meet people you might not normally talk to,” said freshman Madelyn Scheese.
They had a chance to meet students from Westside Academy in Detroit on May 17, with whom they have been pen pals. They also got to engage in discussions about cultural and racial identity, to play games together, and to work on a multi-media project.
CHS English teacher Adam Schilt, who spent the last two years teaching at Westside Academy, led the project in collaboration with Ashley Monteleone, a ninth-grade English teacher at West Side Academy.
“My passion for finding pathways to equity in the public education system for all students led me to reach out to Ashley Monteleone, with whom I had collaborated during my time in Detroit, and work to create a project where students at our schools could communicate and learn from each other,” said Schilt. “After seeing how invested students were in the project, we started to think bigger, and when the Chelsea Education Foundation generously accepted my grant application, the Breaking Barriers event was born.”
“I believe this project helps to open students’ eyes to a perspective they may have never heard or experienced,” said Monteleone. “People are often listening to only like-minded people. They aren’t having conversations but rather arguments with those they may disagree with. This project allowed people from different backgrounds to have real conversations.”
Schilt said that the project has led to deep conversations about what life is like in the city compared to a rural town and that students feel more comfortable engaging in discussions about differences in race and social context.
“From a purely academic standpoint, the project has enhanced our analysis of characters in literature and has given us some ideas for action research projects,” said Schilt. “More importantly, I would argue, students are building empathy and listening to other perspectives, which will be crucial in their development as citizens of a diverse nation and an increasingly connected world.”
Monteleone said that the project helped her students to become better writers.
“It’s really amazing to see how the relationships progress,” she added.
For Madelyn Scheese, communicating with her pen pal was a real eye opener.
“My pen pal didn’t write for a few weeks because her cousin died,” said Scheese. “Life is harder there. I take things for granted.”
Zivsak said, “My pen pal opened up and we developed a trust. It gave me perspective on how small Chelsea is.”
