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GROW Report 2002
This year, our GROW represented a much greater diversity as well as number of participants, increasing from 18 to over 30. GROW student leaders work on many different campaign issues from ending racism to environmental to labor to educational access to global justice. Participants are leaders in organizations such as MeCHA, Black Student Union, Native American Student Union, Students for Fair Trade, Seattle Young People's Project, Filipino American Student Alliance and came from campuses such as Seattle Central, Shoreline, and Bellevue Community Colleges to OMA High School to Seattle University to UW.
Due to this diversity of experience and backgrounds, the actual training was of high quality. Students shared and learned from one another's experiences organizing on various types of campuses and in different types of communities. These experiences grounded the training in the real-life examples of our work. The panel discussion of organizers from our community including Councilmember Gossett and Hop Hopkins also helped relate on-campus struggles to off-campus campaigns.
Whether supporting unions organizing on campus, protesting undemocratic global trade, or seeking educational access, students display a capacity for creativity and commitment that fosters positive more activism in our communities. Sessions on "Understanding the Relations of Power" provided students with an analysis that facilitates positive, long-term social change on our campuses and in our communities. The GROW focused on the tools of "Direct Action Organizing" to ensure long-term change through an interactive, hands-on learning environment.
The GROW itself was fast-paced and very participatory. Our GROW national trainers remarked on how lively the training was, ending each day with lingering discussions and often having to cut off role plays, debates, and networking to keep to the schedule. We all came away ready to apply the new skills that we have gained and to build the citywide network of student activists who attended the training together.
The weekend nurtured a discussion of how we build a more cohesive student movement. Our future work to build this network will be an important step to help build the student/youth movement. This GROW was a great success and we are looking forward to making it available to more students in the future.
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