As part of our summer internship program, our high school QUESTion Ambassadors facilitated two QUESTion Community Labs with several dozen students from the Boys’ Club of New York (ISP Summer Prep Program) and the Central Park Conservancy Student Internship Team.
We were thrilled to see our ten ambassadors step into large leadership roles as they engaged young people of similar ages in empowering explorations of big life questions. Their openness encouraged a safe and honest space for incredible ideas, creativity and dialogue to emerge.
Together in a large circle, they shared their biggest life questions. It was through this process that they came to realize that many of their questions, curiosities and uncertainties were shared by their peers. Despite their different backgrounds (religious, ethnic, racial, cultural and more) they were able to form a powerful sense of connection and common humanity.
At one point the QUESTion Ambassadors divided their peers into small groups to discuss the different questions that were posed during the large group discussion. They brought out real world issues that we are currently facing across the globe. This included issues of racial tension as well as economic insecurity. Coming together in this way allowed them to express their inner feelings of frustration and inspiration — feelings of which often go unexpressed without clear outlets.
These recent QUESTion Community Labs provided a place where young people could actively come together to share diverse perspectives and creative responses. Underneath all of their dialogue was a recognition that so many of us are striving to find answers to fundamental life questions relating to purpose, who we are, and what kind of future we can create individually and collectively.
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