Waterford Today

The Pontiac School District Board of Trustees heard a presentation during its March 20 meeting by a group of students and faculty who attended a special program at Harvard University to learn more about improving lives and opportunities for children in their communities.

Shawna Boomgaard of Oakland Community College gave trustees a presentation on the OU-Pontiac Initiative Early Childhood Education (OUPIECE) group trip to Harvard's Alumni of Color Event on March 3-4. Students from the group are working to be Michigan ACE Community Champions, part of the Adverse Childhood Experiences task force that attempts to heal communities around the state and give kids better opportunities. 

"They are our youth members, and we are very proud of them," Boomgaard said.

The students gave a presentation called Phoenix Talk, focusing on authentic voices of the Pontiac community. It was a partnership with the OUPIECE Resilience Project, where the group goes to schools, day-care centers and many other community locations to provide educational opportunities and help families with young children in Pontiac and address disparities.

The students have been training to become advocates in their own school community, going to sessions for almost a year before attending the speeches at Harvard, where they discussed ACE and how it impacted students and residents.

Several students shared their experience with OUPIECE and the trip to Harvard, expressing the desire to help their classmates know their voices were heard. They also shared empathy and recovery stories from issues such as self-harm. Each student crafted their own speech, one using Spiderman comics to illustrate his point. 

In addition, they shared their own college journeys including experiences such as being accepted into colleges like Rochester University, Oakland University and Washtenaw Community College with plans for engineering, business and cosmetology. One proud student's parents drove all the way to Harvard to watch him speak. 

"I just want to thank you all so much for what you're doing," Trustee Kenyada Bowman told the group. "The mental health peace in this community is infinitely important. And with you young people standing out front saying, 'I want to hear you, I want to be here for you, I want to just bridge that gap.' Just the willingness to want to do it. You don't even understand the pathway that you're blazing."

Bowman thanked the students, saying: "You all are setting the benchmark."