ELMS Students Promote Literacy and Become Community Change Agents
Let your next adventure start with a book!Reading is the key to ________.
Read to Rise Syracuse!
In their 7th grade year, ELMS students focus their learning on Agents of Change. Throughout the school year, they research leaders who make positive contributions in the community, and they participate in community service projects to help the community themselves.
As a culminating project to end the year, students break into groups and create their own advertising agencies, where they are tasked with creating an advertising campaign – complete with slogan – that promotes literacy throughout the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County. Each group created a campaign complete with a poster; magazine cover; logo; painted billboard design; products like t-shirts, bookmarks, or buttons; and a video – either a commercial, talk show, or news segment.
Each student group prepared an outline explaining why literacy is important.
“Reading levels are down throughout the state, due to many reasons,” one group wrote. “As a community, we are on the verge of momentous change and opportunity to better our workforce with higher wages and growth. We need to prepare our residents by encouraging them to do their part and make literacy a priority for their family’s future!”
Art teacher Lisa Lambert said this project was a great way for students to brainstorm about an issue that’s important to them – and make connections with how that issue impacts the success of our entire community.
“Everyone – the State, the City – they all say we should promote reading,” Ms. Lambert said. “But you don’t see much about it. This was a great way for our kids to become a voice for change and get them fired up about the importance of reading.”
After their ideas were finalized, each agency selected student leaders to represent their group at Pitch Day – where they presented their campaign to a panel of judges – including Superintendent Davis, Mayor Walsh, advertising executives, Syracuse University professors, and more.
“I helped design and paint the billboard,” London Perryman shared, gesturing to the design behind her. “We did a lot of work! We want people to read more, and hopefully our campaigns will help make a difference!”
The students took feedback from their presentations and used it to fine-tune their work prior to their E-Night in late June, when their campaigns were presented to their classmates, families, and the community. But this year, in addition to providing feedback on Pitch Day, Lamar executives were so impressed with the students’ work that they offered to run the three billboard designs locally. Throughout the month of June, the students’ reading campaigns were shown on actual billboards on James Street, Brighton Ave, and S. Salina Street!
“The kids were so excited,” Ms. Lambert shared. “They can see their work actually making a change in our community. It’s so important for them to see. They’ve spent the whole year researching community change agents – and now they are seeing that they can actually become change agents themselves.”
We’re proud of these #SCSDCivicReady ELMS students for using their learning to promote positive change in our community!
