First Year Scholar Curriculum

Goals:

• Scholars identify a starting place for their Puksta endeavors

• Scholars describe the core facets of critical service learning

• Scholars differentiate between charity and solidarity

• Scholars understand the Puksta Foundation's approach to Civic Engagement

Goals:

• Scholars develop a shared vocabulary for their engagement throughout the Puksta program

• Scholars explore how privilege and oppression occur on the individual, cultural, and systemic level in their own lives and in broader social contexts

• Scholars understand and apply an intersectional lens to their engagement with eco-social justice efforts

• Scholars differentiate between "diversity & inclusion" and "equity & justice"

• Scholars develop a critical self-awareness of their identities

Goals:

• Scholars explore and interpret the following community organizing philosophies and skills:

1) Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown: Methods for change work that embrace complexity, interdependence, and transformation

2) Mutual aid by Dean Spade: Solidarity-based support in which people work cooperatively to meet the needs of everyone in the community .

3) Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samasinha: Radically reimagining the ways our society is structured, uplifting visions and models for care webs that create collective access from the lens of disability justice

4) Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer: Recognizing the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world.

5) The Nap Ministry social media from Tricia Hersey: Rest is resistance

• Scholars develop a personal community organizing philosophy that will guide their endeavors throughout the Puksta program

• Scholars begin to analyze the root causes of social injustice

Goals:

• Scholars recognize relationship building as an integral facet of community organizing

• Scholars study and apply techniques for engaging in and facilitating dialogue on difficult topics

• Scholars articulate the "Story of Self" component of their public narrative

• Scholars brainstorm next steps for their second year in the Puksta program