BOULDER– On Tuesday, May 6, nearly 250 K‐12 students and 80 University of Colorado Boulder undergraduates, who participate in CU Boulder’s Public Achievement program, will share their recent efforts to raise awareness about 20 public issues during a public project fair. The event, which serves as a culmination to CU’s yearlong Public Achievement program, will be held in the Glenn Miller ballroom at the University Memorial Center (1669 Euclid Avenue) on campus from 4:30‐6:30 p.m.
Incorporating skits and multimedia, Public Achievement students, representing Casey Middle School, Centaurus High School, Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer, and Ryan Elementary School, will have an opportunity to discuss student‐identified social issues and review subsequent actions that they took to address these issues. To raise awareness about gun violence, for example, a group of Centaurus students is currently collaborating with the Interfaith Council of Boulder and metal artists from Lafayette’s Living Design Studio to create a large‐scale sculpture to memorialize the estimated 30,000 individuals, who lost their lives to gun violence during the 2013 calendar year.
The completed sculpture will be tentatively unveiled to the Boulder County community next spring. Commenting on her involvement in the project, CU Boulder sophomore and Public Achievement coach Jasjit Mangat shared, “It has been an honor to support high school students on this important project this year. The students recognize that they have been provided a unique opportunity to create a tangible product that will live well beyond their lifetime. In the process, they have acquired several public skills and the knowledge that they can in fact create positive social change.”
Other issues tackled by students include animal abuse, bullying, Colorado flood relief, global warming, human trafficking, poverty, teen depression and suicide, teen substance abuse, and youth homelessness. In addition to sharing outcomes from their respective projects, students focusing on hunger, will host a concurrent silent auction during the project unveiling. Generated funding will be allocated toward a resource center for students in need at Centaurus High School.
Administered by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement with support from INVST Community Studies and the School of Education and in partnership with the “I Have a Dream” Foundation of Boulder County and the Boulder Valley School District, Public Achievement promotes civic engagement, student retention, and access to post‐secondary education through a multidimensional and intergenerational service‐learning curriculum. Part of an
international movement founded in 1990 at the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota, Public Achievement currently operates in several K‐12 schools along the Front Range, including Centaurus High School, Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer and Ryan Elementary School in Lafayette and Casey Middle School in North Boulder.