As a transformative justice program, Pa’lante works to change the structural manifestations of racism and other forms of oppression in our school. Each year, student leaders develop a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project through which they work to address a problem relevant to their lived experience at school, identify solutions, organize a campaign, and then meaningfully engage the community and school/city leadership to achieve their campaign goals.
Hidden Legends
Pa’lante wanted to create a space in the school that celebrates Holyoke’s diversity, and also the rich history of social activism in the city.
Mindful Rage
Co-facilitated by Pa’lante Peer Leaders and adult staff, our 7 session series is a dynamic, joyful, youth-led alternative to a standard anger management course.
Student Support Room
In 2015-16, Pa’lante student leaders took a deep dive. The Student Support Room sounded like something positive, but our experience told us that the space was not actually very supportive.
Racism Audit
To understand what students at HHS were experiencing in regards to racism we used a mixed methods approach.
Ethnic Studies for all
In 2017-2018, Pa’lante Peer Leaders chose Racism as their YPAR project. One of the recommendations was to create an Ethnic Studies Requirement.
Search our minds, not our bags
In December 2019, Holyoke High School announced a new policy requiring school administrators to conduct regular searches of students’ belongings. We took action, and we won!