Cleveland, Ohio - 3td day - Shaw High School 01/14/2011 (English)

This would be an outstanding day in my life: a life lesson, actually. Have you ever stoped  to think  that we nurture wrong conceptualizations about people, places, countries... the famous prejudice. I believe that we are here to learn throughout our lives and enjoy life experiences. 

The experience that I would live today would be one of the most remarkble experiences of my life. I would rethink my conceptions and realize how skeptical I am. It would help me to grow personally and open my mind to notice that I have many lessons to learn. We never stop learning.

I opened my eyes without giving any thought to how this day would change me. It was really dark outside, as always. I didn't hear many good things about Shaw High School. People said that it was a dangerous environment and I nurtured many stereotypes about the school and its students.

My host brother and I headed to school as usual. When I entered the school, I first went to the library, did reaserch about Shaw and finished our powerpoint about Brazil.

Inside of Westlake High School Library

When Yuri arrived, he drove us to Gina's office. She enjoyed our group, and Yuri drove us directly to Shaw High School. While we were in the van, Gina told us that all students who visited Shaw loved the experiences (I would discover why later). Moreover, she said we were being extreme and negative  in our attitudes about the school. She was right, we needed to be more careful about our harmful ideas.

When we arrived at Shaw, many students and Ms. Urogde, the coordinator from Shaw, came to host us. They steered us to a classroom, where we would live one of the best experiences of our time in the United States. The classroom was beautiful. It had many flags, posters, pictures and a rug on the wall about justice.

Shaw High School

Many other students were in the classroom. We took our seats, and the students started playing the instruments and dancing. This band was invited to play at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. There was also a student who went to Bejing to take part in this ceremony. The school was deeply proud of them. I could feel it through Ms.Urogde's speech.

After that, the Youth Ambassadors were invited to introduce themselves. We said our names and answered questions about ourselves: what we most liked to do, what made us unique and so on. When all Youth Ambassadors finished their speeches, we wrote our names on the board. I loved to listen to my fellow Youth Ambassadors, but mainly the students from Shaw Hish School. When they came to introce themselves ,they also gave us flowers and beautiful teddy bears.

Introducing myself to students in Shaw High School

Phrase "Welcome Brazilians" written on the board

Flower given by a student and my binder given by Gina

Flowers and Teddy bears on the table ahead

Sweet Teddy bear and flowers given to me

Holding the Teddy bear and the flowers

Students from Shaw High School introducing themselves

Youth Ambassador's names written on the board

Folder given to the Youth Ambassadors: "Thank you for visiting our school... 'As I learn from you, you learn from me'".

 Video of the amazing school band

It was definitely a charming way to welcome us. I started to feel deeply honored to have the opportunity to meet all of them.Well, we were completely wrong in our feelings about Shaw High School. It  was obvious by the end of the first presentation. They showed us how to really welcome visitors and how to be polite, smart and respectful.

Gina always promoted the American Youth Ambassadors program in Cleveland. She gave a talk about it, introducing herself to the group. Gina has always showed her respect and admiration for the Youth Ambassadors Program.

Gina Cirino talking about the YAP - American version

Ms. Urogde started talking about one activity which would be done amongst the students from Shaw and the Youth Ambassadors. She explained the meanings of these words:

Perpetrator - Person who commits wrong doing.

Victim- Person who is harmed in anyway.

Bystander- Person who sees the harm but doesn't do anything to stop it.

Upstander - Person who sees the harm and tries to help to stop it.

Shaw High School lesson

We prepared a skit to represent a situation in which all people mentioned above appeared. I was in a group formed by the students who were at the same table. They were excellent! We started talking about bullying against people who aren't straight. We talked about true events that happened in both countries. We shared good thoughts and knowledge while talking. At this moment, I was completely aware that my first thoughts about Shaw High School were totally wrong. The students proved to be more than polite, diplomatic, and mature; they showed how to work ethicly and break stereotypes. 

After our conversation, we got dressed for our skit. We laughed a lot every time we tried on new clothes. They school has a great source of clothes from the theater department. As a result, the classroom became a fun environment.

Students from Shaw High School and me

I love America

Students from Shaw High School and me

My group watched the two first skits and we presented ours. During the presentation, Ms. urogde asked who was the Perpetrator, Victim, Bystander and Upstander. At the end of my group's presentation, Ms. Urogde thanked us for sharing on such a difficult topic that has affected our society: the harm done against gays and lesbians.

My group and I presenting the skit

At the end of our presentation

When we finished presenting all skits, we were invited to have lunch with the whole staff and  the students from Shaw High School. As they began to prepare the classroom to bring the food, I took many photos of the posters that were on the wall. They said: "WE ARE NOT THIS STEREOTYPE". The funny thing was that they  showed exactly the thoughts we had about Shaw before getting to know the students. While I was looking at them, Gina stood by my side and said: "I'm glad to see that you are taking pictures of this". Impossible to do differently, right? I was aware of how much I had learned from them in just few hours.

Picture of Obama in the classroom

Rug on the wall

  WE ARE  NOT THIS STEREOTYPE! 

Click on the image and increase the image sizes

Ms. Urogde brought everything they did and shared with us. It was really a nice gesture that I will cherish forever. All the Youth Ambassadors were more than flattered with the whole thing. They brought sweetchicken, cupcakes, brownies, sandwiches, pasta with cheese and so on. I really liked eating the candy, it was delicious. I need to be honest, I'm a "Candyholic".

Student from Shaw High School talking about the recipe he made.

Cupcakes - I miss them!

Students from Shaw High School beside me during lunch time.

Cupcakes - I wish I had this recipe .-.

By the time we finished eating, Mr. Sammy Hickson asked all the people in the classroom to take part in a game. We made a big circle and he asked us many questions (Some of them were extremely personal). If the answer to the question was yes for me I would step inside of the circle. One of the first questions was: "If you`re American, step inside of the circle." He mantained his questions, and the topics became more and more personal.

Mr. Sammy Hickson talking about the rules of the game

I believe the most important part of this game wasn`t to make me deeply know others, but  it was to show that people whom I just met share similar things with me, things that happened throughout our lives. In brief words, the exercise showed that we are alike: we are humans who can feel the same things, in good and bad situations. The ties of friendship among the Youth Ambassadors and the students from Shaw were becoming stronger and stronger.

We kept up the conversation and it led into our presentation about Brazil. I gave little Brazilian coin bags to Mss. Urogde to give the students later. I also distributed some posters about my city and state. We started talking about history, customs, the educational system and curiosities. Many things were discussed about Brazil. I was responsible for talking about our educational system. I did the presentation emphasizing the differences between our educational system, such as the public universities in Brazil and how the teachers evaluate the students in my country. I also said that the students stay inside of  the classroom while the teachers move to go to the next class. We also explained that even with the public health and educational systems, we pay high taxes in Brazil. They were very impressed with the whole presentation. Imagine how they reacted when they heard that our presedent is a women. When we were close to finishing, Ana talked about our flag and we sang  the Brazilian National Anthem. On the same note, the students from Shaw proudly sang the American National Anthem.

Youth Ambassadors talking about Brazil

Ana speaking about our flag

At the end of our presentation

Ms. Urogde thanked us and gave us medals and some gifts from Shaw, such as pendrives, pencils, schoolbags, T-shirts and a photo frame with a beautiful message:

"Be the change you wish to see in the world

-Ghandi

Be an Upstander

What does an Upstander look like?

Shaw High School 2011"

Pictures

T-shirt

Gifts from Shaw High School

"Thank-you for Being a Shining Star For our Generation"

Ms. Urogde giving portraits to the Youth Ambassadors

Ms. Urogde giving the gifts to the Youth Ambassadors

The day was coming to an end, and our last activity was a dance worshop. We taught  them how to dance to music from Brazil and they taught us how to dance music from the U.S.A.

Youth Ambassadors and Students from Shaw in a Dance Workshop

Youth Ambassadors and Students from Shaw in a Dance Workshop

Youth Ambassadors and Students from Shaw in a Dance Workshop

Students From Shaw and me after the Dance Workshop

Staff from Shaw with the big, delicious cake: "Be an upstander and be the change"

Our last picture together

It was close to our departure from Shaw High School. We put a chair in front of everybody to stand on to thank them. Many students made speeches thanking us for our visit as well. I felt realized because I knew that we completed part of our mission as Youth Ambassadors. What I learned from this experience  and from each student not only exceeded cultural knowledge, but  also affected the teachings and values of life, respect and union.

I love the Youth Ambassadors Program because it has changed the lives of students in my country for over nine years. Today I lived it. I felt the real and powerful meaning of being a Youth Ambassador.

Ms. Urogde brought an enormous and delicious cake. We ate it as fast as we could while we exchanged our contacts information to keep in touch with the students from Shaw High School. I confess that I wished I could spend more time there, but we needed to go. Our host families would pick us up soon at Westlake High School. We said our good-byes and left, leaving a special feeling behind: the strength of ties of friendship among people from differente cultures.

I waited for my host father to come to pick me up. The night came and closed a memorable day in my life.