Diversity Project
Smoky Mountains
Why we are going to The Great Smoky Mountains
The Courage of One – The Strength of Many
Our goal is to enable our participants to experience "… the strength that grows within the souls of people, working together, as they analyze and confirm their own experiences and draw upon their understanding to contribute to fundamental change" (Highlander Research and Education Center).
We will travel by bus to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee as a group of individuals to seek to learn more about people of diverse backgrounds, philosophies, and cultures and how their experiences have influenced their world. We will be welcoming students from Manuel Perez Jr. Elementary School in Chicago to be a part of our group, maximizing our connections from last year’s trip to Chicago by bringing them into our fold and together becoming a learning community in the diversity project. Our aspiration is to instill in our young people the courage and empathy to understand and accept others and their life experiences, the optimism to promote necessary changes, and the goodwill to help others.
Team building within our group will enable our students from McLean County and Chicago to have the courage to be open to new learning experiences together while we stay at Tremont and interact with educational programs from the Highlander Research and Education Center. The courage must begin within each individual in our group before we can go out demonstrate the strength of many.
The inspiring backdrop for our learning will be the Great Smoky Mountains, a far contrast to the cement and skyscrapers of the Chicago trip in 2005. The setting matches flawlessly because the Smoky Mountains have been affected by people of diverse interests and perspectives for years.
Nature’s setting will enable our community of learners to recognize the diversity within the plants and animals as well as humans and to be able to connect people and nature. We will embrace the mission at Tremont by focusing on a sense of place, diversity, and stewardship.
As we move forward from this experience, it is vital that we come back to McLean County and Chicago to share our knowledge with our communities. We must take care of our home environment and begin to learn and share about others of diverse backgrounds, philosophies, and cultures. Our responsibility is to create an environment that accepts others regardless of their race, class, gender, age, physical abilities, and mental abilities. We have to learn not to be bystanders when others are bullied or mistreated because of these differences. People are mistreated every day, and our young people must have the courage and strength to face this dilemma.
We must use this educational experience to inspire and empower our youth to go forth in our communities to make a difference.
The 2006 Diversity Project should give Courage to each One and Strength to Many!
Dr. Lynette Mehall
March 5, 2006
Unit 5 Team Leader
