At the beginning of the school year, I signed up to be a part of the Can We? Project. The Can We? Project at YHS consisted of students interested in civil dialogue, and some of them were in government classes. Some people, like myself, saw it as an opportunity to meet different people and learn about how to have conversations that may be controversial. We met twice at the log cabin on Maine Street to be trained on how to facilitate civil dialogue. We did exercises about identity, and assumptions, and practiced having some conversations about difficult topics. We learned how to lead a group and give directions. In early December, we took the day off from school to go to Augusta. We went to the Augusta Civic Center to facilitate civil dialogue between students from schools all around Maine. Students from YHS worked in pairs and were assigned a room and a group of students. I was paired with Chloe Bibula, we would be working together to lead the students in our room through a series of discussions. We would have to group up the students for each round and prompt conversations. We also had liaisons in the room, who helped us with timing. They also got involved in most of the conversations. I loved getting to talk to people from different schools, and backgrounds. We talked a lot about the Can We? Project mission statement; “Can we harness the wisdom, compassion, and power inherent in the great diversity of the American people to revitalize our democracy, mend the social fabric, and live out the true meaning of the American promise of liberty and justice for all?” We picked words that stood out to us and talked about what this statement meant. We also had conversations about what topics were important to us. In my groups, there were several times when people disagreed on some of these topics such as abortion, and firearms. The disagreements were important parts of the discussion though. Figuring out how to see someone as human before you see them just as their opinions. Not climbing the “ladder of inference”, in other words, catching yourself before making a quick assumption. Using disagreements to learn, not to argue. When we weren't in our specific rooms, we went to a large community room. There was a presentation by Shawn Moody (a Maine politician) and lunch was served. We were told to sit only with people we didn’t know. I was hesitant about this at first, but I ended up enjoying spending time with students from other schools and getting to know the people at my table. We had a lot more in common than I expected. Overall, the Can We? Project was an incredible experience. If you ever have the opportunity to get involved with it, I highly recommend that you do.
