Offering Real Insight

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Let’s be honest: the “Spring Semester” is mostly a Winter Semester. Early weeks are cold, dark, and it feels like the season will never shift. But the days do lengthen, indiscernably at first, and then by leaps and bounds. By April, the sun feels warm again, and bird song greets students’ walk to school.

This is also the time in the semester when BCL students begin to stretch their own wings. After weeks of grounding and context building, they are ready to show up as thought-partners on real-world issues. For better or for worse, the city has no shortage of vexing questions, forced choices, and open-ended dilemmas.

The program’s emergent curriculum allows space for each semester to take its own shape. This means that each group of student consultants can meet the needs of the moment. Past semesters have brought youth insight to land-use planning, transportation equity, school redesign, and Waterfront access. This semester, BCL16 students have consulted on issues as diverse as:

  • Pedestrian safety and urban design
  • Solidarity in Social Justice movements
  • Equity in public transit infrastructure
  • Soccer stadium siting and circular economy product marketing
  • City comprehensive planning
  • High school community-building
  • The city’s structural budget gap
  • Burlington’s addiction crisis
  • Youth access to “third spaces”
  • A.I. policy

and

  • Future designs for the city’s public library

Although it initially feels awkward, the goal of these youth-adult partnerships is not to come up with an answer. Instead, students grow more and more comfortable leaning into complexity. The more your explore them, the messier dilemmas get. But questions lead to richer, more nuanced questions. This in turn nurtures a new mindset, one that embraces interdependence, perspective-taking, and civic engagement. And while everyone would prefer an easy fix, what matters more is open dialogue about the things that matter most.

Before long, the lack of easy answers isn’t frustrating; it’s empowering.

One of our first consultancies was with Local Motion. Students began with a “pedestrian safety audit,” and then offered feedback on the organization’s WalkSmart curriculum.

Before working with Local Motion, I mostly thought of transportation as driving from one place to another. I did not really think about how difficult it can be for people who walk, bike, or do not have access to a car… When cities focus only on cars, it can make it harder for other people to move safely. For example, bike lanes might be too small, sidewalks might not be safe, or there might not be enough crossings for pedestrians.

Thinking about this made me realize how much city design affects people’s daily lives. When streets are designed mostly for cars, people without cars can struggle to access basic things like jobs or school…Communities should be designed for people, not just vehicles. If cities invest in safer walking and biking infrastructure, they can improve public health, reduce pollution, and make communities stronger.

  • Najib

One of my favorite experiences we had was with two community partners, Dainel and Jack from Local Motion. It was fascinating to get to walk around our community, streets around the ONE that I know so well, and view them with a critical eye. One of the perspectives we analyzed was that of what it would be like to be blind or visually impaired on our Burlington streets…This pushed me to reflect on other accessibility issues I had noticed on sidewalks in my own neighborhood.

Over the summer, as I was walking…down to Oakledge Park I got caught behind a local neighbor who takes daily walks through the South End, as she was crossing the Champlain Parkway. This neighbor has a walking disability so it generally takes her longer to move, however, she should still absolutely be included in the thought process for how long it takes someone to cross a street when they time out cross walks. Sadly though, the new Champlain Parkway crosswalk by Flynn Ave is way too short, and she was left ¾ of the way across the street when the light turned green for the cars. This felt deeply unfair to her. After reflecting on both these experiences it had me wondering: how can we better design streets and crosswalks to be more accessible to more people?

  • Keats
On our first visit, we learned about Outright Vermont’s mission, successes, and challenges.
When we returned as consultants, Théo Soucy asked for help with a real dilemma — how to address the barriers to school GSAs and Social Justice clubs working together.

One interesting experience that we had in BCL was visiting Outright Vermont, a 10-minute walk from our class building. I learned that Outright Vermont works with the schools. They partner with individual educators, school building teams (including social workers and counselors), and school district teams (DEI committees, board members, and administrators). They also unite with youth-serving professionals, organizations, and state agencies to create safe and welcoming schools for everyone in the school district. 

Inside Outright Vermont, it is very colorful, and the people there are very welcoming. [Our hosts] were quite cool, to be honest. While people have different perspectives on life, I appreciated that the individuals we met at Outright Vermont were respectful and did not attempt to impose their beliefs on anyone. One question I did ask was, How do we make people’s lives easier rather than removing or discriminating against them?

  • Dunia

It was interesting being at Outright Vermont. The word solidarity for me is synonymous with the word unity. They might as well be the same thing. Some barriers to finding solidarity between groups could he agendas not aligning.

  • Mahdi
On a cold February day, BCL16 ventured out to investigate something we all take for granted: bus stops.
Back in the classroom, students offered insights to public transit planners.
Themes that emerged naturally included access, equity, and universal design.

Consulting on real issues has been so enjoyable. It makes me open my eyes to new ideas. especially when we have the discussions and I get to hear people’s perspectives. It makes me take my learning to a new level. This was true with GMT, because I can relate to it. I used to ride the bus a lot so it was good to hear the backstory of it. I also enjoyed giving my opinion because I know some people can relate.

  • Michee

Meeting with GMT was really interesting. We walked around talking about city buses and the bus stops. You don’t realize how hard it is to figure out the bus schedule and figure out the bus stops until I heard GMT explaining it to us. I think it would be more beneficial to ask people where they think their bus stops should go. Last year I would catch the 8 bus near my house. It ran every half hour and it worked for me. And if I missed the bus, there’d be another one right after that I could catch. Then they switched the times so now the bus runs every hour. I no longer catch that bus because it doesn’t work for my schedule. For example, it runs at 3:15, but school ends at 3:15 so I can’t catch it. So now, I get a ride to and from school from [a friend] If they didn’t have a car, I’d have to walk or wait for the bus. Walking is fine but being early in the morning in cold weather, it is not convenient.

  • Taiya
At City Hall, students split into groups by neighborhood, and mapped the assets in the places they call home.
They also noted areas for investment and innovation.
…and their presentations were both practical and futurist.
In the BCL classroom, students hosted BHS Principal Westdijk and leaned into the following dilemma: “What are steps students, staff and/or leaders can take – and choices students, staff and/or leaders can make – to ensure that BHS is a place where young people and adults are made to feel seen, trusted, appreciated, and respected?”
Students asked keen clarifying questions and challenging probing questions, and their Principal treated them as trusted advisors.

When we consult on real world issues, I always think it’s amazing, because students are never usually the ones working on this kind of stuff. I feel very included and seen when I’m in these groups. Even if I’m not speaking so much, I still feel very included. And I feel very important as well. I really liked being a part of the consultancy with [our Principal] Sabrina Westdijk about the new school. I felt very included to be talking about stuff that teachers would talk about in meetings, and that stuff is basically never shared with kids. So to have that opportunity, is very awesome.

  • Carter

One consultancy I really enjoyed was our time with Sabrina. I am a part of student government and all the issues we talked about was the same issues that we are having in student government. It was cool to have my voice be heard and I’m excited to see what the new school will be like. Oveall, it has been a very cool experience to consult on real world issues. I feel like I am making a real impact in Burlington. It feels like what we are saying and the ideas that we bring are actually being heard and seen.

  • Hannah

Back at City Hall, CEDO Director Kara Alnasrawi was ready to partner with BCL students on a seemingly intractable issue — the City’s structural budget gap.
Kara asked students to eliminate three city services from a list she provided.
The discussion that followed illuminated the downstream impacts of every cut.
After a powerful session with Safe Recovery’s Vivan Bose-Pyne, students understood more about the complex public health crisis…
…and walked into their session at City Hall with compassion and context.
When Kara Alnasrawi asked students to site the proposed Overdose Prevention Center, it was clear how multi-layered such a decision would be.

I loved the consultancy with Kara [Alnasrawi] because I loved talking about real city problems and how my thinking is about it. I got to look through Kara’s eyes and see how she sees Burlington. It feels important. When we have these conversations, I feel like what I say could actually make a difference in what the issue is, and how the organization goes about dealing with their dilemmas. Overall, I feel its very important and I’m doing it for an opportunity that others should have.

  • Selma

Consulting on real issues and dilemmas has opened up my eyes to the nuances that it takes to solve a problem. It is really interesting to try and work through the problems that real people have. It gives me a bigger perspective. Being listened to by adult professional feels really validating.

I found our consultancy with the City of Burlington about overdose prevention really interesting. This is an issue that I hadn’t really thought much about. And it was interesting to work through all of the nuances of the problem. I wish we could have had more consultancy time, because I think there was a lot more than I wanted to talk about.

  • Adele
When we turned our attention to the unfolding crisis related to migrants in Vermont, it felt like the place to start was with The Family Room’s Emma Gonzalez, who is on the front lines of support for families.
Students built more context through conversations with Pablo Bose (UVM), Seth Lipschutz (VAAP), and the BSD’s Autumn Bangoura.
Students visited Partizanfilm, Burlington’s newest movie theater, where they met filmhouse founder, Brett Yates…
…and filmmaker, Paul Rosenfeld, whose short documentary La Liga…
…which gave us a window into the lives of migrant dairy workers.
Our screening was the first time that Paul met Rob Michalak, who for 18 years led Ben & Jerry’s Global Social Mission — and helped ensure that the company partnered with Milk With Dignity.
Back in our classroom, Rob shared the story of how a mission-driven company continues to fight for its beliefs…
…and, of course, we enjoyed the fruits of Ben and Jerry’s labor.
Back at Partizanfilm, BCL16 students consulted on how to encourage more young people to feel comfortable in this unique “third space.”

Consulting with the community partners has given me new insight on city planning. When designing a city, we need to keep in mind the values that are most important. In Burlington, we value inclusion and community. With that in mind we should reevaluate how accessible the city is to everybody (buses, locations, transportation), and how many third spaces there are in Burlington and if they are thriving or not. Consulting at Partizanfilm was very interesting to me. Their business at the most fundamental concept is preserving old-fashion entertainment and battling the modern situations that are increasingly making theaters extinct.

  • Welcome

It has been a very great experience being able to actually consult with professionals. It feels accomplishing when I can see the adults actually taking notes because it feels like our ideas are being considered. Sometimes it feels a little weird expressing my opinions on topics I don’t relate to as much. But most of the time it also makes me think about things I don’t usually consider.

The consultancy we had at Partizanfilm was very interesting to me because I learned a lot about this space. When I was younger I definitely longed for a third space like this. I love movies, but also just want a place to hang out with friends. I think they have a really cool mission that will be very accepted and cherished by the community. I think there are a lot of potentials for this space and they have the opportunity to become very successful.

  • Frances
Five community partners–representing BSD Tech Integration, Curriculum Leadership, Data Management, and Policy–joined us in the BCL classroom to consult on an authentic dilemma: “What does our district need to do to set students up for success in an AI world?”
Students were honest about their current uses of A.I., but also shared their fears.

I think it’s really interesting that we get to meet with all these people and get to do so much work that may actually go towards helping the community/city. Most the time these consultancies are cool experiences and we get to give our own opinions and questions, which I think is a better experience for students than just being in a normal high school building, in classrooms all day with the same teachers barely getting field trips anymore.

  • Callee

Overall, it has been amazing. We have been asking good questions all together and diving deeper to understand and giving suggestions for improvement. It has been a great experience. I have had the opportunity to learn new things, and I’m just grateful for everything we have done and people we have met.

  • Dunia

It has felt very good to be able to share how I felt in these situations. Overall the experiences from the beginning of BCL to now have felt great. When we are consulting it feels very good to be heard and for my voice to have value.

  • Blu

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