The NET Charter High School: Central City team says they came up with “Love in Action” as a result of their own struggles.
They weren’t supposed to be there. A New Orleans charter school team competing with the top high schools in the city was one of the winners in a competition sponsored by the “I thought I’d end up either dead or in jail. I started doing street stuff. I was going through a real bad anger problem because I felt no one could understand, that no one would care.”
Love In Action was conceived as a way to foster healing through kindness, something the teens said they’d found valuable as they contended with their own problems. In Aspen, despite being reportedly branded “jail kids” or “bad kids” by other competitors, the Central City squad showcased their program in a way that resonated with their peers. Nola.com cites the example of a session the group did on creating “worry stones” with smooth rocks and paint that helps alleviate anxiety.
“We were fluent,” Allen said of the team win.
They — along with the two other grand prize winners from 18 initial New Orleans schools competing — won $500 and will present their project in Aspen.
Though they were once passing through the school, each trying to manage their issues separately, the group is now close. They say their achievement can create lasting change, particularly in the way kids from New Orleans are perceived.
“Everybody was talking about The NET,” Guzman told Nola.com. “So we thought, ‘We’ve got to show them.’”
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