For much of 2020, the word “virtual” has been attached to many of the things we do. Adults attend virtual meetings and conferences. Students attend virtual classes and lectures. Families hold virtual reunions for the holidays.
Yet, there are still many things taking place in reality. At Des Moines Public Schools that has ranged from thousands of meals being picked up each day at schools through the city – a brief but important point of contact – to students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) being served in-person by their teachers.
Another example has been RunDSM. Founded by two DMPS teachers – Emily Lang and Kristopher Rollins – the program has expanded over the years into schools throughout the city with a simple but lofty mission: to support students in their community activism by providing a platform for them to be heard. Part current events and part urban arts, the program blends the students’ creativity with their interest in the issues facing the world around them.
But with the cloud of COVID-19 hanging over the world, and school buildings being either closed or having limited access over the past several months, RunDSM had to find new ways to engage with students. They partnered with the Good Vibes Movement – a yoga studio that serves as a de facto community center in a northside Des Moines neighborhood – to provide a place for students to gather each Monday afternoon for workshops, safely enveloped within a space of bright murals and Bob Marley posters and a waft of incense.
Through it all the students were masked, but their voices were anything but muzzled.
The workshops covered three main areas. First, spoken word poetry. The student-poets of RunDSM have been recognized nationally for their talents in recent years, but with no audiences to perform for at poetry slams they coached and taught and shared with each other for a couple of hours each week.
A second part of the workshops included the students sharpening their eyes with exercises in different visual arts. From painting self-portraits to exploring the neighborhood with cameras to a lesson on giving new life to old clothes through renewable fashion, the RunDSM students found ways to look at things anew.
Finally, since community activism is a part of the RunDSM mission, a project in support of the community was a key piece of the workshops. While many in-person opportunities are on hold, they chose to build and supply little libraries to be planted throughout the neighborhood.
At the very first Monday afternoon RunDSM workshop in early October, one student read a poem she wrote with the opening line: “Today I read Coronavirus as carnivorous.” Everyone has felt, in one way or another, the impact of the pandemic … including students. Over the past several weeks, these Monday afternoon sessions have given RunDSM students an opportunity to find and share their voices during a most unusual school year.
