One of AFSC Atlanta's most exciting projects is the Student Career Alternatives Program(SCAP). Over the last few years SCAP has visited dozens of high schools, hosted various youth focused concerts, and facilitated a successful city wide art contest all with one goal in mind, promoting the numerous under promoted non-military post high school options for Atlanta youth.
This is an exciting time of year for SCAP organizers as high school students are settling into the 2010/2011 school year. This month SCAP will be tabling at many Atlanta area high schools for the first time but before we make new friends, it's been really awesome revisiting some of our old ones. This past week we got to table at Cross Keys High School for the first time this year. This marks our third consecutive year of tabling at Cross Keys. We've literally gotten to watch some of these student grow up. Many of them know me by first name and go out of their way to check in with me and see what's knew with SCAP. I came with over 50 "It's My Life" books and ran out of them with in the first half of lunch time. We also gave out over 30,"Beofre You Enlist" DVD's and students took tons of literature.
One thing that I spent a lot of time promoting to students on this visit is AFSC's national video youth contest. Check out this video or the link below for more information:
One thing that made the "trillion dollar question" extremely relevant was the financial crisis that Cross Keys has had to deal with. The cafeteria staff has been cut in half, causing some kids to get their food two minutes before the bell rings. the remaining food workers have to do twice as much work for the same pay. there's also been teacher lay offs, and many departments no longer have administrative support. Several students picked up copies of our one minute for peace fold out which highlights the national budget and they expressed confusion that we could be spending over a trillion dollars on unpopular wars in far away lands while de-funding programs of social uplift, like education, in our communities.
You'll notice that I didn't get any footage of students on this visit. That's simply because I have yet to get permission to do that and want to wait till I do, last year they gave us permission and I'm sure they will again this year.
To learn more about SCAP visit: www,scapatl.org
For More info on the "If I Had A Trillion Dollars.." Youth Video Contest Visit: http://afsc.org/action/if-i-had-trillion-dollars-youth-video-contest
Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee
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