To support student journalism and the content you love, become a member of The Daily Orange today.

As a Syracuse city school student, I must advocate for myself and my peers. Many students feel the need to constantly prove themselves because society doubts and looks down on them. City schools often face a lack of support, representation and opportunities.

The Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse (ACT) Youth Council’s purpose is to help improve the community and be an advocate for the underprivileged. As students, we have a voice.

I joined ACT Youth Council because I want to make a difference in the community. Our mission is to improve schools and provide more resources. However, a seat at the end of the table is not enough. Students need to take action. We need to create our own table.

The ACT Youth Council was successfully able to implement College and Career Centers at all five high schools in the Syracuse City School District. It was a two-year long project in which we proposed a four-year plan about what we want the Centers to look like and the kind of support we need. Our goal is to provide students with pathways support after high school and ensure those who don’t want to attend college that they have other options.

The typical stereotypes about city school students are that we are less intelligent and have less chances of success. My school, the Public Service Leadership Academy at Fowler, gets overlooked because of the fights that occur on campus and the bad reputation. The lack of resources provided to us has given our school a graduation rate of only 45 percent. However, my school offers many wonderful programs and classes, including EMT, Law Enforcement, Cosmetology, Cybersecurity, Geospatial, American Sign Language and Arabic among many others. PSLA @ Fowler is an extremely diverse school, with almost 80 percent of students identifying as part of a minority population. Our school contains over 67 different languages, according to the English as a New Language Department.

Along with the opportunities in school, there are many opportunities after school that students are involved in. Despite the stereotypes, many students are thriving in the community because of these programs. “I AM ME” is a girls’ club at PSLA @ Fowler that I’m involved in. It was founded by Brenda Buckley to empower young women. Our mission is to give back to the community and allow young women a space to grow.

We hosted a Feminine Products Drive for a women’s shelter. We raised money by selling Christmas Ornaments and T-shirts that we designed. The money we raised was used for a “Sandwich Saturday” event to help feed the homeless. In addition, we learned how to knit in order to make scarves and donate them to those in need. Every year, we host a Zumbathon, “Dancing Feet Keeping Kids off the Streets,” in which we collaborate with organizations and vendors to raise money for non-profit organizations. This is a free opportunity for students to come together with the community and dance.

Being a member of the ACT Youth Council and “I AM ME” showed me that as Syracuse city school students, we must create our own opportunities and be our own advocates. Being a city school student truly shaped who I am as a person. It introduced me to many new cultures, which ultimately changed my perspective of the world. It allowed me to grow as a person and build a community that I want to be a part of.

Being a city school student placed the responsibility on me to stand up against the odds and work harder to prove that I can achieve anything I set my mind to.

Eva Morris | Design Editor

City School Students play a huge role in the community just as much as SU Students do. It’s important for SU Students to be aware of the issues Syracuse high schoolers face. As many high schoolers will be going to SU, acknowledging their struggles will improve their education.

Despite the involvement of many SU Students with the ACT Youth Council, the majority of others have no idea about the issues we face on a daily basis. As a community, we should all come together and provide as much support as possible. We, City School Students, feel isolated. The barriers between us and the University should be broken to prepare us for the next chapter of our lives. Students at SU need to break out of their bubble to learn more about the schools in their community.

As students, it’s important for us to have a voice at the table. Syracuse residents and the school board aren’t walking the halls with us. They don’t see the day-to-day work that our teachers put in to help shape us. We feel that they only see the negative things that happen in the buildings and don’t celebrate our success. Enforcing specific rules is hurting the culture in the buildings. Students’ voices can help, and have already helped, improve the culture in the buildings of the Syracuse city schools. We want to be a part of the change!

Alaa Laila, Syracuse City School student

Published on October 6, 2022 at 12:15 am