Day 2: Cleveland High School Circuit

Today proved to be quite eventful. We continued our community outreach within various Cleveland neighborhoods, focusing on high schools this time. When calling these schools from New York late last week, we had very little luck finding a person who was interested in screening (or who even answered the phone). We also found out that Ohio high school students have statewide standardized testing all week, hence they have no time for watching a film in the classroom...Nonetheless, we did not let this get us down, and we believed that things will come together when on the ground and face-to-face. Today this was further realized. 

The same schools who rejected us, along with several other unexpected leads, welcomed the crew, their film, and were sorry to hear we wouldn't be here after their testing week. A few highlights include stumbling upon a beautiful building that housed three different high schools. Not only will each principal of the high school have a copy to pass along to their teachers and counselors, but a wonderful woman overheard us speaking and took a few copies as well. It turns out she is part of a statewide network called Youth Voices: "The project brings high school students together to talk about their lives and how their needs translate into policy proposals. For the most part, the high schools organized are rural and urban, providing a compelling mix."

We ended our busy and successful high school touring day with a screening at an after-school center, the DePaul Family Center. We are so grateful for Paul Hill, Jr., for connecting us with the center, with people from tomorrow's community house screening in Columbus, all the Cincinnati connections, as well as his outreach efforts for the last few weeks. The students invited us to their drum lesson after the screening, and we were rejuvenated for our drive to Columbus.