City Works Connections
Team Members: Tomeika Bennett, Erik Ching, Dorothy Dowe, Dixon Harrill, Annie Maertens, Johnny Sexton, Teresa Webster
Sometimes things are simpler than they seem; helping young people connect with others who are different from them doesn’t always need to be complicated. The City Works Connections team practiced simplicity in action during their Over the Horizon project, by acting as facilitators without engaging in direct intervention. There were no debates about diversity, equity, or inclusion. The team put young people together in a natural setting and they did the rest. After all, hatred, suspicion, and division among people are not natural; these are learned behaviors. This team decided to let nature be the teacher.
The City Works Connections team took 15 students from North Charleston High School and 15 students from Lucy Beckham High School on an exploration of Bulls Island. All students had a common background as 11th or 12th graders from Marine Science or Marine Biology classes. The excursion began with an orientation at the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, where the group was joined by several staff from Coastal Expedition (three guides, a boat captain, two truck drivers, a park ranger, and others).
After boarding the ferry, the group withstood chilling wind across the estuary to reach Bulls Island. On the ferry, the students played an ice breaker — a “speed dating” style exercise. Students from one school sat on the inside circle of the ferry and students from the other school sat on the outside, while the leaders asked easy questions and the students answered, becoming acquainted with one another. With each new question, the outside circle rotated so that new people faced one another, and they began again. The ferry ride was truly beautiful, and the students were clearly affected by the experience.
Upon arriving at the island, the students divided into two groups, so that students from one school sat with students from the others, and the groups climbed into two open trailers to travel around the island. Along the way, the students learned about the wildlife on the island, including birds, marine life, and quite a few very impressive alligators. They learned about rising sea levels and their effect on the island, and the biodiversity of the wooded areas. The trailers traveled across the island to Boneyard Beach, aptly named for remnants of dead trees that litter the landscape, where the students walked along the beach and explored. The students had a great time, laughing, talking, and picking up seashells as souvenirs. After, the staff asked the students to hold up their shells and explain what type of shells they were and what kind of sea life had lived in them.
The next stop was Dominick House, the only house on the island. Dominick House was built in the 1920’s by the Dominick family, who owned the island at the time and built the house as a base for duck hunting. When the Great Depression arrived, the family sold the island to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where it became part of the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge.
Students shared a meal inside the house and the atmosphere was friendly, as the students happily engaged with one another, discussing the island and the wildlife they had seen. After the meal, the group received a presentation from Vera Manigault, a Gullah Geechee sweetgrass basket artisan and historian who has appeared on CNN, the Discovery Channel, and the Today Show, among other shows. Ms. Manigault was charming, funny, and informative, and all the students loved her. The students were highly engaged, examining the baskets that she sent around with great interest, and asked a flurry of excited questions.
Though it was difficult to end the session and return the students to their schools, all who participated gained a better understanding of both wildlife and one another. The encounter with nature as a common experience broke through any of the potential awkwardness that young people from very different backgrounds might have otherwise had with one another.