New Initiative Encourages Students to See Beyond the Bubble

1/20/2020

Students involved with Grier’s Beyond the Bubble program met on Thursday afternoon with Kaela Fuentes-Packnick, a fourth year PhD candidate at Penn State in Curriculum and Instruction's Language, Culture and Society and Literacies and English Language Arts programs. Grier Bridge Club advisor Mrs. Keri Salyards explains that Beyond the Bubble is a new program at Grier that aims to encourage personal growth by taking Grier girls outside of their normal spheres, or bubbles.

The inspiration for Beyond the Bubble began when Grier sophomore Simone T. expressed a desire to Mrs. Borst to share information about her race and culture with the Grier community. Simone and Mrs. Borst developed the idea to create a series of Grier talks following the famous TED-Talks format where students could express their thoughts and knowledge to others, bridging gaps and fostering mutual respect and understanding.

Beyond the Bubble presents topics that educate and inspire individuals at Grier to take a look at a slice of the world that is foreign to them. The group plans to introduce a wide range of topics to the school, including: neuroscience, world relations, climate change, and more.

Led by Simone, the group plans to first take a look at race and culture, specifically exploring the topics of micro-aggressions and intersectionality. Beyond the Bubble invited Kaela to help Simone put her ideas into words and develop a strategy to deliver the message. Along with a well-researched poster campaign and townhall style meetings called "Bubble Talks," the team plans to collaborate with Mr. Bryan Beckel and the Grier AV Club to create a video presentation to share with the school.

Additionally, Kaela shared her own knowledge about the issues related to race, especially within the realm of education. She showed tremendous support to the students interested in helping Grier explore beyond the bubble and praised the Grier environment for how it empowers young women.

The Grier community eagerly awaits the first major Beyond the Bubble program, debuting sometime this spring!

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- Kaela Fuentes-Packnick, educator and fourth year PhD candidate discusses Beyond the Bubble with Grier students.
- Simone explains how she hopes Beyond the Bubble will foster respect and understanding through open and honest conversations about difficult topics.
- One of the issues discussed was the concept of intersectionality, how everyone is more than just a singular label.
- The group was eager to share their thoughts and experiences.
- Beyond the Bubble was born from the idea to create Grier talks following the famous TED-Talks format where students could express their thoughts and knowledge to others, bridging the gap and fostering mutual respect and understanding.
- Beyond the Bubble was born from the idea to create Grier talks following the famous TED-Talks format where students could express their thoughts and knowledge to others, bridging the gap and fostering mutual respect and understanding.
- Beyond the Bubble was born from the idea to create Grier talks following the famous TED-Talks format where students could express their thoughts and knowledge to others, bridging the gap and fostering mutual respect and understanding.