During the evening reflections of Day 2 of the Clearwater High Civil Rights Tour, one student described the experience so enriching that it was “like a dream.”
Day 2 started with students writing reflections of Day 1. They then toured Morehouse College and Spellman College. The boys toured Morehouse, and all boys college, and the girls Spellman, which is an all girls college. Each group was taken through the campus by a college student ambassador who connected the historical value of the two colleges to the Civil Rights movement.
After lunch at the famed The Varsity restaurant, the students headed to the Center for Civil and Human Rights. There, they watched and listened to emotional and moving experiences for the Civil Rights movement. They sat at a simulated lunch counter where through headphones; they could hear the words and the insults that were used at that time. They read handwritten letters to and from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and experienced the March on Washington, Dr. King’s death and the Montgomery Bus Boycott via a movie.
Dinner was later had at the Maynard Jackson room of the Paschal’s Restaurant, a location where Dr. King and many other Civil Rights leaders dined and held strategy meetings. After dinner, the students held small group reflections and presentations. They also had an in depth conversation with Ernie Suggs, the Race and Civil Rights reporter for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
The day ended with a view of the downtown Atlanta via the Skyview Atlanta Ferris Wheel.
The Clearwater High Civil Rights Tour is a project-based personalized learning opportunity where 37 select students researched and created an experience that encompasses real-world occurrences that connect them to the Civil Rights movement in the United States.
The culmination of this endeavor includes an in-depth tour of historical civil rights movement sites. The students will visit Atlanta, Ga., Montgomery and Selma, Al., and conclude with a tour in the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. The trip will be held March 17-22, 2016.
On their return from the tour, the student participants, also known as CHS Freedom Ambassadors, will drive and lead a project based learning experience for the entire student body.
The students are currently “owning” the learning and becoming experts in the field. During the trip, Clearwater High students will meet individuals who were actually key stakeholders, active participants or spectators of these important events. No professional tour guides will be utilized on this tour, and all learning is authentic and student-driven.
On their return from the tour, the student participants, also known as CHS Freedom Ambassadors, will drive and lead a project based learning experience for the entire student body.
