11th grade student Evan shares ideas with the Ron Brown Redesign Team at the March 28 Design Day.
An oasis for young men of color in the city
Reminder: a full Spanish translation is available at the top of this email.
There are many things that make Ron Brown College Preparatory High School unique. It’s the city’s only all-boys public high school, and, having opened in 2016, it’s the youngest school participating in DC+XQ. It’s also a space specifically designed to foster success for young men of color, known at the school as Young Kings. While that vision is already radical, the school community is leveraging its engagement with DC+XQ toward an even more revolutionary accomplishment.
Through their redesign, Ron Brown envisions becoming a “Black Biosphere,” an oasis for Black and brown boys where anything is possible. Maisha Wise, a DCPS innovation manager who coaches DC+XQ schools, describes the Black Biosphere as a place for young men to “thrive, learn about themselves and curate their own meaning of life.”
Within that protective space, young men of color in DC can achieve what they want to achieve, not just what adults think they should achieve. And Ron Brown students, 100 percent of whom have given input through focus groups, polls, and participation in DC+XQ Design Days, made it very clear what’s important to them: becoming public figures. They want to take the idea of a social media influencer and turn it into someone who has a meaningful impact on their community. Public figures are at the core of the school’s redesigned school model:
The redesign process relies on strong relationships between students and the staff at this small school. Daily morning meetings allow space for announcements, but more importantly, for community building and shared rituals. Ron Brown redesign director Dr. Arman Lakes describes these community circles as an alternative to the outside world:
“We share affirmations, we give shout-outs, because in so many spaces they don't have that. The world postures like it’s against them every day.”
Ron Brown has been hosting community circles since the school’s foundation, but the tradition has become even more important during the DC+XQ partnership as a time to get direct student input.
At a convening in March, a group of boys shared aspects of their ideal day, using sheets of paper to write and draw their wishes:
A bus to deliver them door-to-door from home to school to increase safety and attendance rates
More afternoon electives like the existing chess group, things like yoga, cooking, dance, swimming, CPR, or self-defense
Clubs for interests like anime, radio, or photography
Volunteer or internship opportunities with community groups to experience professional fields of interest before graduation, like healthcare or information technology
Time to be outside in the school’s neighborhood of Deanwood, in a park, reading or doing work
You can follow Ron Brown’s journey on Instagram and on Twitter. Next month, we’ll introduce Columbia Heights Education Campus, another high school developing a DC+XQ redesign proposal. This summer, we’ll announce the final selection of DC+XQ Cohort 2. Thank you for following along!
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