Annual Civics Fair Held at NRHS

By Lea Cohen

The third group included Nola Brooks and Octavia Liku, who had done extensive research on the diversity in the selection of the Kaleidoscope program. They believed that due to educational and income disparities, north-end schools in New Rochelle send a much higher number of elementary students to the Kaleidoscope program than the south-end schools. Brooks and Liku proposed some solutions, most notably to utilize a universal screening process that still considers complexities of every student individually. Similar to many other civics issues presented, this was an intricate, complex issue, but Dr. Corey Reynolds and Mr. Iannuzzi seemed to take away a lot from the presentation. Dr. Corey Reynolds acknowledged the importance of this issue, stating, “Everything that occurs on an elementary level has a butterfly effect,” also saying that “We do need gifted and talented programs in our district in order to be competitive.”  Following this presentation, Daniel O’Malley presented his idea for a highway removal project to completely transform the Memorial Highway intersection. He envisioned New Rochelle as a much more walkable, beautiful city, especially for residents near Lincoln Avenue. Brayden Casas and Ryan Conroy focused on how to better welcome immigrants to New Rochelle, while finally Artina Berisha and Isabella delved into the mental health effects of school testing and proposed a much more holistic process.

Each panelist was receptive to the issues brought to them, and seemed to appreciate hearing student perspectives. They all mentioned how honored they were to have a place at the event, taking the opportunity to come back every year. Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert, in an interview right after the event, reflected on the annual Civics fair. She immediately stated, “I’m always learning from people younger than me. It’s refreshing and important because you will be the adults in the future…How you guys communicate is different too, so making sure that I’m learning and thinking about how you might receive information is important.” When asked what new perspectives she may have gained after today, Ramos-Herbert highlighted the conversation about parking, stating “You guys care about parking so much, and I am passionate about it. Knowing that our next generation of voters care about parking and the environment and think about community holistically: it motivates me, because I know when I’m at the table, even if I’m by myself, you guys have my back.” She continued on to add that though she wasn’t surprised to hear our perspectives, she is “curious to know what’s at your forefront. Students could’ve asked anything.” She said that hearing students discuss topics she was so passionate about already simply “affirmed where my heart is and where my brain is policy-wise.”

Lastly, Mayor Ramos-Herbert reflected on the holistic significance of the Civics Fair. She went on to say “You guys are more informed than so many adults. This is your foundation–you’re going to be far better consumers of information and critical thinkers as you keep moving forward.” She sees this event as particularly impactful because “Everyone should know who their mayor is and who’s in charge of making decisions for the school. Everyone should know how decisions are made, and who can make things better and more responsive. This is so important.” 

Many students who took part in the civics fair had a memorable experience and enjoyed being able to present their ideas to an audience of change which they don’t normally have access to. Elizabeth Farias, an NRHS senior who worked on and presented the project about parking in New Rochelle with Finn Stoff, reflected on the experience. She said she was “nervous overall, but after it I felt okay. I felt like all the panelists were pretty engaging with the projects they answered.” Farias added, “It really surprised me when she talked about even reading the book we based the entire project on. I’m honestly just surprised the mayor was so excited to talk about parking.” Farias also mentioned some of the reasons she became interested in the topic of parking: “There have been times in my neighborhood where parking was really bad, and I felt like there could’ve been improvements made. Sometimes my brother had to park over 15 minutes away to walk home in the pitch black.” She also added that she “became more interested in the topic as I did more research” as she mentioned places like Minnesota, where parking changes have had strong positive effects. Farias says she “would hope to participate in more events like these in the future. It was really interesting, learning about different projects. There was a lot I heard that I didn’t know about.”

Finn Stoff, the other NRHS senior who worked on the project also was fond of the day. Stoff said that he “felt honored to have the opportunity to present to a panel of such important officials. I was pretty nervous beforehand–repeating the speech over and over to myself–but these butterflies vanished once I started talking.” He said that he enjoyed all the conversations he was both a part of and was able to listen to; Stoff believed they were engaging and was excited to hear how each administrator individually responded to each project. In his case, he found the mayor’s perspective “intriguing, and the balance between parking spots and city progress was quite curious.” 

Overall, thoroughly considered topics were brought forward by students in hopes of creating positive change within their community. As Elizabeth Farias said, “It’s not every day you get to talk to the mayor about parking.”