CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, CONTINUED . . .

The program morphed into days focused around civic engagement instead of longer seminars. After the day focused on the 2020 presidential election, students came to Francis with an idea for a second day. It was late 2020, and, with everything that was going on in society, they wanted to do one around race in America.

In March 2021, Civic Engagement Day focused on anti-racism; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and understanding levels of racism. The students took part in different activities in groups led by teachers and students. With rules around visitors on campus starting to loosen, Chuck Mingo, a Seven Hills parent, Board of Trustee member, and Crossroads Church pastor, and Molly Shack, co-executive director of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, presented an intensive look at levels of racism, such as personal, interpersonal, institutional, and structural.

Francis was impressed with the students' thoughtful questions of the presenters and how they engaged fully in the challenge topics.

For the 2021-22 school year, three Civic Engagement Days were planned around the topics of sustainability, media literacy, and mental health.

Sustainability focused on the problems associated with consumerism, ways to reduce consumption, and how to live a sustainable lifestyle. Broken into groups by grade level, students planted trees in the Hillsdale Campus’ neighborhood of Madisonville, conducted a campus trash audit, and attended talks by visitors from sustainable businesses and organic farms.

The media literacy day brought actor, comedian, and alum E.R. Fightmaster ’10, the first nonbinary cast member on “Grey’s Anatomy,” to campus to speak about the importance of media representation and empathy in their keynote speech.

“You are watching television because you have empathy for the people on your screen. If your screen has a lot of diverse representation, then you are developing empathy for different people. Empathy is this thing that fills your cup while filling the cups of other people. Empathy is what makes you charismatic; it is what makes you warm. Empathy takes your talent to a level that people want to see it. It is all about empathy,” they said.

Students participated in a media representation game show and a media literacy escape room. Fightmaster