"He Called Me Malala" Promotes Female Empowerment at Burke's
March may have been International Women’s Month, but Burke’s has been celebrating girl power all year long!
In January, Upper School students started a detailed project revolving around Pakistani schoolgirl and Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Following their viewing of the documentary about Malala, He Called Me Malala, Burke’s girls kept the momentum of that inspiring film going by participating in a community art project. Fifth through eighth graders split into multi-grade groups to decorate a portion of a large female symbol. Each group gave its section a unique spin — such as including Malala's image with words that describe her efforts, or magazine cutouts representing other strong women. The complete symbol now decorates the wall just outside the Media Room. Click here for more images from this project, which was done in conjunction #withMalala Challenge, a global digital art project encouraging young people to speak out about why every girl and woman should have the right to an education.
The sixth-grade advising team also collaborated with Makery Facilitator Susan Deemer for two mini-workshops with students on gender stereotypes in the media during Flex Friday extended advisory sessions. The girls were taught how to recognize the strategies used by marketers to promote disempowering stereotypes for both men and women in order to stregnthen their media literacy skills.
And then, in keeping with Burke's tradition (for nine years, as Youth Voice President Ashley Y. told us), a slew of formidable females took center stage at the International Women's Day Assembly on March 8. After introductions from Ashley and Head of School Michele Williams, students, faculty and staff, and guests heard from Burke's Teach With Africa intern, Nqobile Nkosi, and seventh grader Paige L. delivered a speech about why she admires tennis champion and superstar Serena Williams, even in a media climate that tears her down.
And then, longtime Burke's second-grade teacher Gale Mosheim (who's retiring this year after nearly 40 years at the school!) took a seat alongside novelist and Burke's alumna Vendela Vida '85, who counts herself among the scores of Burke's girls who had Ms. Mosheim for second grade. The two talked about teaching, writing, and bird-calling, with Ms. Mosheim calling for a mid-talk exercise break to clear everyone's minds.
Click here for more photos from the assembly, and video of Ms. Mosheim's chat with Vendela is available on our YouTube page.