In 2003, Stephanie Smith (M.Ed. '05) began volunteering for the Institute for Community Leadership (ICL), a national nonviolence education organization which helps young people improve their academic achievement and reduce incidents of demerits or punishment. She took time recently to discuss her experiences at ICL and how the Center uses energetic integration into social action, peace and democracy to promote education.

As my studies progressed at the UW, I craved a deeper connection to the community and a bridge between the theory I was learning in the classroom and the practice of this theory in action. With the assistance of my advisor Dr. Geneva Gay and ICL, I developed an independent study that allowed me to turn my volunteering into an internship grounded in a series of readings, discussions, and journal writings. When graduation drew near, ICL offered me a position in community relations.

Located on 172 acres of rural and second growth forest on the eastside of King County,  the ICL hosts groups of urban and rural, multigenerational, multiethnic, gender and socioeconomic diverse teams working on projects ranging from literacy based social justice poetry workshops that empower, create community, and ignite a sense of responsibility to something larger than the self, to trail building, sheep shearing, organic gardening, painting, stream restoration work on one of the three salmon bearing streams, or letter writing/ campaign participation with local or national leadership. Students who excel in ICL literacy workshops in schools participate in these advanced leadership nonviolence workshops and projects.

In the broadest sense, ICL programming follows Mahatma Gandhi’s creed “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” As students gain the confidence and skills to work for something larger than themselves, their connection to community and their ability and desire to work for justice grows. Through learning principles of nonviolence and discovering one’s own creativity and innate value, young people find meaning and purpose in relationship to others- the true meaning of global interconnectedness comes to life. Through literacy-based programming, students of ICL develop character required for academic excellence, active citizenship, and a desire to actively participate in their communities and change their schools.

It’s particularly exciting to be a part of the ICL team at this time, for we are expanding The O’Dell Center from a two day-a-week to a seven-day-a-week operation that will go from hosting 280 students to 3,690 annually. The beginning stages of this expansion are underway with fundraising efforts in full effect for two new “green” buildings and the renovation of a current structure, along with walking trails and interactive learning stations focused on the role of the civil rights movement in transforming education. The buildings will be sustained with alternative energy, living sod roofs, water catchment systems and many other “green” features making the buildings themselves serve as teaching tools inviting visitors and students to reflect on their own ecological stewardship.

ICL firmly believes that public schools must cease being a dividing mechanism that segregates students based on race and economic status and that public education must be transformed. Training students, teachers, and community members in the principles of nonviolence helps us address this monumental issue by awaking a sense of responsibility in each and every one of us to actively engage in our own realities.

For more information about the Institute for Community Leadership, visit www.icleadership.org.