OU-Pontiac Initiative Accompanies High School Students to Harvard’s Alumni of Color Conference

The OU-Pontiac Initiative’s Early Childhood Education group (OUPIECE) recently traveled alongside seven Pontiac High School students to present at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Alumni of Color Conference (AOCC).

OUPIECE leaders coordinated the trip as part of the group’s Pontiac Resilience Project, an initiative that aims to spread awareness of the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and childhood trauma on growing brains, as well as the significance of relationships and compassion in building a healing, resilient Pontiac. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 61% of adults experienced at least one ACE, which can contribute to a plethora of health issues later in life, including depression, heart disease and obesity. ACEs can also negatively impact education and employment potential for many individuals. 

“Our work in ACEs … came about because during our OUPIECE meetings, the members repeatedly expressed that the biggest issue for the children in Pontiac is childhood trauma,” said Dr. Tomoko Wakabayashi, associate professor in OU’s Department of Human Development and Child Studies. “To prevent and eliminate ACEs, these youths are using their voices to reach their peers, families, and community members, about the science of ACEs and resilience, in a way we, adults, can’t.”

The trip was funded and supported by the Pontiac School District, and matched by the SEHS Dean’s Office and Department of Human Development and Child Studies, while the Pontiac school board voted and approved to fund and send Angela Powell Medlock, at-risk social worker for Pontiac High School, and the seven students.

The students were accompanied by Wakabayashi; Medlock; Shawna Boomgaard, social work/mental health faculty member at Oakland Community College; and Canequia (“Coco”) Moulder, executive director of Pontiac Promise Zone. All four women currently serve as members of OUPIECE’s leadership team, while the latter three are also current doctoral students in OU’s School of Education and Human Services. 

The seven Pontiac High School students presented their self-proclaimed “Phoenix Talk” — in reference to their school’s mascot — titled “‘We Hear You’: Sharing the Authentic Voices of Pontiac Youth” on Friday, March 3. The presentation focused on mental health in youth, as well as the impact of ACEs on brain development and later health and behavior. The students also discussed learning to step back and ask, “What happened to you?” instead of, “What’s wrong with you?” According to Wakabayashi, the presentation hit close to home for many audience members, including the father of one Pontiac High School student who drove from Pontiac to Boston to see his son present.

“During the presentation at the conference, there was not a dry eye in the audience as the students shared their journeys thus far to build their own resilience,” Boomgaard said. “The challenges they face on a daily basis may impact them, but they have built stronger connections to their families, friends and the community in which they live. … One student explained, when they were asked to share one word to describe the experience, they replied, ‘empowered.’ ” 

As Michigan ACE Initiative Community Champions (MACCs), the students will now be trained to use the ACE materials to help OUPIECE train other youth in Pontiac and its surrounding communities. 

“The Pontiac High School students have received the MACC training since August of 2022,” Boomgaard said. “Following this trip, [they] will learn to become trainers of the work using the materials from the Michigan ACE Initiative, alongside the OUPIECE leadership team. The goal will be to have the students train not only the middle schoolers in Pontiac, but the community.”

During their visit, the students also had the opportunity to meet with Harvard University President Larry Bacow, a Pontiac native. 

Pontiac high school students and OU-Pontiac Initiative staff with Harvard University President Larry Bacow.

“They were really aware how they would be representing Pontiac High School and Pontiac,” Wakabayashi said. “The president asked every student not only to tell him who they are, but the exact street or part of the city they live in. That really broke the ice, I think.”

Bacow’s conversation with the students largely focused on their shared experiences as residents of Pontiac. He also imparted advice to the graduating seniors about the transition to college and the unexpected turns that life took for him. 

“[The students’] faces lit up when [Bacow] talked about how they too can make a difference,” Boomgaard said. “They were empowered to move forward in school and life — take things seriously, be a force for change. They truly were inspired by the conversation.”

It was an equally inspiring experience for Bacow, who recalled a trip to his hometown at the beginning of his presidency in 2018 before noting that, with this meeting, his current role — from which he will step down in June — “will start and end with Pontiac.”

During the trip, the students also attended a performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with guest conductor André Raphel, as part of the BSO’s Voices of Loss, Reckoning and Hope Festival. The three-week festival features music from a multitude of artists and genres to promote conversations about social change.

The concert served as an oratorio centered on Octavius Catto, a 19th century African-American educator and civil rights activist who was assassinated in his fight for justice. 

“It was an amazing, moving [and] educational experience that just happened to be the perfect timing for the trip,” Wakabayashi said of the concert.

Retrospectively, Wakabayashi and Boomgaard both felt every aspect of the trip helped further the mission of OUPIECE by raising awareness of ACEs and empowering young people to speak out on issues that impact them.

“After the presentation, one student told me how she felt listened to — our youths realize that their voices matter,” Wakabayashi said. “She told me she was nervous at first, but when she saw everyone becoming emotional, she felt people were listening to them. She said, ‘I wasn’t that poor kid from Pontiac anymore.’ ”

OUPIECE leaders have planned several forthcoming events to continue spreading awareness of — and inspiring efforts to prevent — ACEs. After the success of the trip to Harvard, they have also expressed a desire to make it an annual opportunity, funding permitting.

“The most rewarding part of this trip was giving these young people a different perspective of the world, providing an opportunity to show them that possibilities exist and that they are just as capable of being their greater selves with the support of people encouraging their success,” Moulder said. “Their joy was enough.”

For more information on OUPIECE, visit oakland.edu/community/pontiac-initiative.