“Psychologist’s studies have shown that when faced with an important need or emergency, humans will look to each other and if they are doing nothing, they will also. However, if one person in the group breaks from the peer pressure and starts to organize for a cause, others will follow because humans love to work for a cause but are often held back by typical ‘do nothing’ behavior. Renaissance students will be that ‘ONE’” This comment by Retired teacher Mr. John Henry is truly an inspirational one.

Too long has this generation been okay with letting their school technology be so outdated. The way students are educated has changed so much since the start of public schools, and that’s why schools are as successful as they are now; they change. Schools change with the rest of our society in order to provide a better education. Why then, has available technology not been incorporated into our classrooms when the research and statistics have proven that technology can be so beneficial to education? We are living in the 21^st century, the ‘Age of Technology’.

This year, we realized that our education wasn’t going to change on its own… and more importantly that it needed to change. Now, about eight months later, we find ourselves leaving the school, but not without leaving something behind. We are not leaving behind a school with classrooms filled with iPads or iMacs, no, but a legacy. We are leaving a path for not just Renaissance, but other schools to follow.

My classmate Tony Solis said this, “We can never settle for something less than what we can achieve.” This year, we have accomplished so much because we have worked so hard at this project. We have left a path that future generations will follow because we know that so much more can come out of this project and others like it. But now it is up to future generations to also break away from the ‘typical do nothing behavior’ and continue advocating.

“The lessons learned in this endeavor will serve these young people throughout their lives. May they always display the qualities of courageous leadership and courageous followership.”

“What you learned as Renaissance students and from the work you did on the advocacy project will be with you for life.  I have very high expectations for you and look forward to finding out what you are doing in the future.  Continue your relentless ways.”

These two quotes, the first by author Ira Chaleff and the second by Dr. Marty Krovetz, remind us that although this advocacy project will be handed down to the incoming eighth graders, our jobs as advocates are not over… In fact they never will be.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.