Bussing the Change into Classrooms
"The unique role of youth everywhere is to ask the question of their culture, “is this the way we want things to be?” and if the answer is no or not quite, to channel their energy and creativity into creating alternative pathways. This spring, Bus the Change brought this type of inquiry and sacred activism into California classrooms. This group, comprised of young activists traveling in a biodiesel-powered eco-rv, presented the youth version of the ATD symposium- the WakeUp Experience (www.generationwakingup.org)- at middle schools, high schools, colleges, festivals, and for homeschool groups throughout California.
Bus the Change is a youth empowerment organization that creates spaces for young adults to wake up to what’s happening in the world, to question whether it has to be that way, and for visioning, inspiration, and action. When Bus the Change arrives in a classroom, it starts to light up with the jovial rhythms of guitar playing and free-style poetry and song. Once the music has warmed the atmosphere, we dive into an intense exploration of who we are as a generation, and where we are as a society and the social-political-environmental trends of our world. We look at how we got here and what has to change in the unexamined assumptions we hold, and finally ask the question that the students are always hungry for: what do we do now?
Students Align Passions with World's Needs
Through the WakeUp Experience, Bus the Change facilitates students through an investigation of our shared reality to the roots of social distress and un-ease, and out the other side where students can decide to collectively take a stand for a better world. Students get to see where their passions meet the world’s needs and commit to actions that turn their inspiration into perspiration. Along the way, Bus the Change has harvested stories of what it means to be young and alive in our world today, and what young people want to be doing, will be doing, and in many cases, are already doing, to shift our trajectory and actualize a better world.
Bring Bus the Change to your School
Bus the Change just finished its first tour and is now in the planning and re-evolution phase for a fall 2011 tour. We are inviting allies of all sorts to support us and follow our journey. We are open to visiting any schools or groups of young people who want to connect with this groundswell of social consciousness that is bubbling up on our planet.
Bus the Change is committed to audaciously believing that a sustainable, just, and thriving world is possible- even in our lifetimes, and actively being the change that will bring that world into reality. By standing firmly in that commitment, we invite you as well as all the young people alive today to join us in taking a stand to create that world we believe is possible.
