Every year, the 8th grade class at Sophia Academy participates in a Seminar where they choose a topic they are deeply passionate about. This year, our class chose the focus issue of “Racism and COVID” and how that impacts access to personal protective equipment (PPE) in Rhode Island. Like many important matters in the world, this is an issue that is particularly important and should be talked about. We found that if people did not have access to PPE, their health was put at risk.
We decided on this project because we wanted to help raise awareness of this issue. Our purpose was to show how COVID-19 is affecting people of color, especially their health. We created surveys, drafted emails, and put all our effort into this project because we are passionate about equality and access for all people.
As you can see, most of the people who did our survey answered by saying that they do have trouble accessing PPE. With this information, we concluded we needed to find a way for people to receive free PPE. Thankfully, we were informed about the Rhode Island Juneteenth event which provided us a venue to give out free PPE to people.
Juneteenth is a celebration that commemorates the June 19, 1865, emancipation of enslaved people throughout the United States of America. Juneteenth RI’s mission is to “collectively celebrate African American liberations, accomplishments and contributions through education, effective communication, inner strength and endurance through observance of Juneteenth;” specifically stated in their website. For more information regarding the organization, here is their website: https://juneteenthri.com/
As part of our action plan, we will be giving out bags filled with PPE to people at this event on June 19, 2021. We are proud to be able to give one hundred people free PPE!
Rosalina and Jayda with the hand sanitizer that was donated by Mr. Rob for the event
About Seminar
Our Seminar teachers, Ms. April and Mr. Rob, made sure that we understand and can distinguish between individual and systemic root causes of current issues. When working on this project, we learned the basic structures and functions of the executive and legislative branches of state and local government, and utilized the “Advocacy Hourglass” and “Participatory Action Research” to identify decision-makers and influencers who have power over our issue, and invite and interview guest speakers.
Our class split into three groups to work on various aspects of the effects of COVID and racism, and all engaged in gathering information and research to test our assumptions. We are grateful for the opportunity to do something positive for our community.
Written by the 8th Grade Covid Handy Helpers: Rosalina, Jayda, Brianna, Jodie, and Yealea