Aziza-Isha

“We don’t need saving. Look at what we’re capable of.”

Por Students of NYC

30 de March de 2023

In January of 2023, students at Springfield Gardens high school came together to fight against the Success Academy proposals to colocate at their school and take up essential space in their campus. Their student-led advocacy resulted in the proposals being withdrawn two days before they were set to be voted on— an unprecedented victory for the community.

“A lot of the students were like, oh, we're not gonna be able to do anything. We're not gonna accomplish this. Even when I went home and I told my cousin about it, she was like, “Yeah. They're gonna come into your school. It's over.” And I was just like, losing faith at that moment. It was discouraging.

We were handing out flyers, advocating for this protest, and they didn’t believe it would work. It's not that they didn’t care, it’s that they couldn’t see.

I think the biggest misconception [about public school kids] is that we need saving. We don’t need saving. Look at what we’re capable of. We have students taking AP classes. Students that are working and doing sports and still coming to school and staying on top of their grades. Students that are graduating early. Division I athletes. Seriously. Students going to Dartmouth, Ivy League schools, Tufts.