Corazón y Acción: a Testimonio of Youth Voice in Schools

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 5:10 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Consciousness and Political Efficacy: Impacts of Action Civics and Ethnic Studies on Youth Activism (Table 1)

Abstract

Objective
This session leverages testimonio to tell the story of the creation, evolution, impact, and challenges of a student voice program. The first-person, qualitative account provides insight on how such programs can live inside districts and what advantages or disadvantages that might provide. The session will also speak about youth growth and transformation in terms of critical consciousness and sociopolitical action, both the possibilities and the real challenges and tensions.
Perspective
This testimonio is informed by Critical Race Theory (CRT). CRT is an academic discipline which challenges the separate discourses on race, gender, and class by examining how these discourses intersect and affect the experiences of marginalized groups (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001; Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). Additionally, CRT is focused on the experiences and knowledge of people of color by using their stories and raising their voices (Matsuda et al., 1993). Drawing on thisCRT framework, the author’s testimonio challenges dominant discourses regarding the role of students, particularly marginalized students, in schools. It will also be intersectional, weaving Indigenous, Chicana, and Feminist perspectives to address the challenges of creating a space for student voice.
Methods
Being a Indigenous Chicana activist within a western school system can be marginalizing. Even as a district administrator there are challenges to identity and authority. The author will use testimonio to tell the story of the creation and evolution of a youth voice program (Cervantes, 2020). The utilization of testimonio anchors the author in an ongoing process and commitment to reconstruct life stories that incorporate moments of adversity with an acknowledgement of the self and transformation of the hardships and grief into healing and possibility (Fernández, 2022). The author will share a testimonio that acknowledges the challenges of marginalization, but provides hope for healing and liberation.
Results
My testimonio reveals and names the transformation that has occurred for the program, its educators, and students. The most resonant transformations have occurred among youth, who, as they age, have shifted their critical gaze from school activism to community betterment. The program, in short, changes lives. While ethnic and cultural identity, awareness, and understanding are important for me, the founder, and those whom the program serves, the testimonio also reveals a new way to interpret the word “culture.” The students have begun to deeply identify as activists, creating a culture of action. When the activist embodiment intersects with other identity markers and those identities are honored and cultivated, transformation occurs both in the moment and, in some cases, into the future. It is not easy, however. Implementing transformative programming inside a school district, this testimonio reveals, required me to be dogged and determined, refusing to take no for an answer nor taking failure personally.
Significance
This paper contributes to conversations about student activism by exploring the possibilities and limits of building a program within a school district. It also underscores the importance of lived experience and identity for those developing and fighting to sustain such programs. In that spirit, hearing an unvarnished take from a program creator is powerful and insightful.

Author

• Solicia Ester Lopez, Denver Public Schools