OUR COURSE
GameChangers: Understanding service, leadership, and self
How Thoughtful Intent, Racial Understanding & Self- Awareness will Unite US
Gamechangers: Understanding Service, Leadership and Self is a new social studies course for high school students. It is designed to help students become "GameChangers" through the scientific study of history, human society, culture, and social interactions.
The year-long course follows a five-step service-learning process: investigation, preparation, action, reflection, and demonstration/celebration. In teams, students identify and research issues in their schools and communities. Meanwhile, they learn about governmental and global contexts as they put their plans into action through public service.
The course is aligned with the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) core social studies themes, which include culture, people, places and environments, individual development and identity, individuals, groups and institutions, governance, production, distribution and consumption, global connections, and civic ideals and practices.
Student-athletes are ideal candidates for a Get in the Game course because they often have a high-profile presence at their schools and serve as role models for their peers. Athletes, especially those from underrepresented communities, often use their status to amplify the voices of marginalized communities. They also use their experience with teamwork and collaboration to lead action that will affect actual change. This is why we call our students GameChangers.
GameChangers will benefit from the service learning by building new skills and developing new networks. Sports teams will see changes as athletes experience an awareness of how environments that embrace and value individuals from different racial backgrounds can serve as a model for society as a whole. Schools and communities will be changed when the students complete service-learning projects that resonate with them personally. Communities can be transformed by the work of the GameChangers.