There are moments in life that remind us of the responsibilities we must accept, along with the roles we play in our society. The youth have been rising up to face the challenge of rectifying our participation in global and communal matters. Ranging from our education systems to the climate crisis of our planet, Breaking Walls takes the opportunity to provide a platform for the Leaders of Tomorrow to express their concerns and build a network of upcoming innovators. The program introduces the youth across the globe to an opportunity to demonstrate connection, understanding, growth, and leadership while interacting with others of different backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, and cultures. This new and creative style of international connection and communication opens the door to the solutions we must design in order to protect and ensure a better future with a stronger global community. On November 9th,
Breaking Walls made an appearance in Fall River, a small town in Massachusetts. Fall River used to be known for being the largest textile city in the United States. However, the city has been stricken by the opioid crisis. Research shows that thousands have died within a span of only a few years and the city is home to many who suffer from opioid addiction.
In hopes of boosting the community’s morale and involvement of its citizens in the city’s adversities, the Breaking Walls presented a five-hour workshop for thirteen students, two from YEAH! Project, and nine of them from the Resiliency Preparatory School. This learning institution provides an alternative for students struggling in traditional public high schools. The school has a small population of students, under two-hundred. I was excited to meet the few who decided to step out of their comfort zone to explore a program as diverse and unique as Breaking Walls. Upon meeting these students, I was observant of the usual nervous banter that follows the intimidation of introducing themselves to the students around them.
We started with our check-in, where we let the group know how we were feeling about the day and Workshop. Most of the students introduced themselves feeling unsure about how the Workshop was going to go or were in-between feeling positive or negative throughout the day. When Fran provided the writing trigger, a famous quote by Angela Davis: “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change, I am changing the things I cannot accept.” she opened the opportunity to discuss the changes we seek within the world, societies and ultimately ourselves. This particular trigger exposed my desire to change the role young people have in their communities, to expand and develop their knowledge of how to apply their efforts to the improvement of their communities.
Our director, Fran Tarr had asked me as an ambassador to present my own response to the trigger. Taking this opportunity to exercise my leadership skills and express my own concerns, I had decided to steer the conversation from internal reflection and instead spoke about the youth educating themselves on how to be active and resilient, educated members of society. I proposed studying how to vote, protecting personal documents, improving financial literacy and encouraging participation in creating solutions within our own lives, homes, and communities. I asked them to speak up and out, to ask questions and to be innovators and change-makers.
All of the new Fall River artists, and the two Brooklyn Artists, Jacob and Mamy, who traveled to Fall River to collaborate, embarked on the five hour workshop where they provided brilliant ideas and voiced their own concerns about their role in society and created two collaborative pieces using lines from each of their writing to craft two original short scripts to be performed. Every artist at some point in their writing highlighted their power and ability to improve, become successful and change the world around them.
“Fall River was an experience I don’t think I’ll really forget. The personal narratives I heard were all really moving. I was very grateful because they opened up to us- complete strangers, but more than that, I was really happy that they grew to trust us with the little time we had. Getting to meet them was a lot of fun. The Workshop showed me that everyone is a writer and those that have meaningful experiences will show great leadership. I have gained leadership by watching each of them lead the group in their own way.” -Jacob Wichterich, Brooklyn artist
The artists at the end of the Workshop promised to push forth the message to those around them, becoming the sparks of change in Fall River. It was an amazing personal experience for me because of my role as an Ambassador tests my ability to lead by example. I was able to guide a topic into the students thinking as a collective and recognizing a lack of participation in our own environments. It was an exciting and inspiring turn of events, where the students came together closer in a short amount of time to produce work that encouraged the development of our society and the importance of the youth, as well as their ability to join together. They departed with a mission to become leaders of their own that believed in themselves and told the world they could do what people doubted they could.
This experience was groundbreaking for me because it was the first open discussion curated by Breaking Walls and guided by the question of our roles that went in this collective direction that I got to witness as a leader and inspiration to the students. The artists were grateful for the opportunity to present their ideas before one another, artists from the same school who hadn’t connected until now.
This inspired me to examine in depth the impact of the Workshop in Fall River, and I have been encouraged to delve into the history of the city and its youth. It is for this reason that I plan on creating an update for next week, where I can expand on the workshop and its impact on the students of Fall River because its magnitude cannot be simplified in one piece of writing. I am excited to update you all on Breaking Walls’ beautiful journey and impact in the upcoming week!
Naya Mason, Brooklyn ambassador
