Wesleyan School Announces Partnership with the Center for Civil and Human Rights

This fall, Wesleyan School announced it has partnered with the Center for Civil and Human Rights, located in downtown Atlanta, to create customized learning experiences for students in and outside of the classroom. This partnership will provide students and teachers access to the Center for field trips that will engage self-discovery about areas of civil and human rights. Additionally, a staff member at the center is available to share her expertise in the classroom alongside teachers and bring the Center experience to Wesleyan.

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Earlier this week, high school chorus utilized this resource when High School Chorus Director Brad Meyer invited Jasmine Page, the Center’s Education Programs Coordinator, to his class. For their upcoming fall chorus concert on Monday, October 7, the chorus is performing “Tell the Earth to Shake.” The piece was composed by Gwyneth Walker and is based on the poem “Earthquake” by Trappist Monk Thomas Merton.
 
In class, students worked with Ms. Page to examine the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and compare parts of Merton’s poem to the thirty declarations. Working in small groups, student selected specific stanzas that aligned to portions of the UDHR.
 
“My hope is that by diving more deeply into the piece, our chorus members will more clearly understand the call of a piece like ‘Earthquake’ and the beautiful composition by Gwyneth Walker,” said Mr. Meyer. “Having Ms. Page in class as a resource to lead us through that discussion was a great value for me and our students and it helped shed new points of view into our piece.”
 
“We are excited about this partnership with the Center for Civil and Human Rights,” said Jennifer Pinkett-Smith, Director of Diversity at Wesleyan. “God created all mankind in His image and understanding that as a fundamental truth is at the core of our diversity work. Helping students bring that knowledge into classwork across our curriculum – including in chorus! – is a key way that we can help continue to reinforce messages of how we are called by our Creator to treat our fellow man.”
 
In addition to classroom support from the Center partnership, Wesleyan teachers will participate in professional development that aligns with curriculum on human and civil rights and two internships are made available each year for Wesleyan students. Wesleyan families can obtain a membership to the Center at a 20% discount as part of the school’s partnership.
 
The high school chorus presents its first concert on Monday, October 7 at 7pm in Powell Theater. Admission is free.
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