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Miami Palmetto High School junior Indeah Lane has started a website called I Teach Children History (ITCH).
“I came up with the idea two years ago,” she says. “I started it this summer. It’s based on the Florida book ban. Florida has a book ban on the contents, which includes race, LBGTQ or Jewish topics like the Holocaust.”
She says she wants to do something to bring attention to the book ban.
“Even though I’m only in eleventh grade, I wanted to make some type of change on the issue,” she says. “I feel like students need to hear about it. It’s happening not only in Florida but in other states.”
The website is separated by age groups. The primary page is a center page where people can go to a Google doc so they can write a story about their experiences.
“The people writing the story are African Americans. In order to test effectiveness, there is a pre and post test. I’ve gathered around 88 responses. According to the responses, students have 10.23 percent increased sense of belonging afterward.”
She’s also doing small case study. She says students said they felt more connected after reading stories from African American adults.
“I hope the population of readers and writers will increase,’ she says.
She has worked on including poll results from other states, including Texas. Currently she has results from Florida and South Carolina.
She’s incorporated her project into her Capstone Research Project. The final project is due at the end of April.
“The first step was to contact people willing to write the stories,” she says. “I contacted a lot of colleges, and storytelling organizations. A lot of them said they would spread it to the organization. Any stories are welcome.”
She says she has a set of prompts for people interested in participating but not knowing where to start.
“The core of the story is the Black cultural experience,” she says. “Hopefully within the next few weeks, I can spread the website to other minority groups.”
At the same time, she’s been trying to get enough students to take the Advanced Placement African American History class, which has been the center of a dispute between the governor and College Board.
She’s been taking a class outside school run by a teacher who is basically teaching the AP course.
At school, she’s in the African Heritage Club, Student Council, Amnesty International, Science National Honor Society and the National Honor Society.
“We’re trying to increase African American awareness in school and in the community,” she says.
For Black History Month, she recited a poem she wrote called Origin.
“I get asked the questions ‘where are you from’ a lot,” she says. “Where are you from? and I say Miami and they ask again and again and again.”
Lane is the co-treasurer of the Junior Class, vice president of the Inter Club Council, and she is a member of the Amnesty International Club.
“The goal of it, at Palmetto is to help inform students about human right violations around the world,” she says.
To assist in that goal, club members write to politicians and lawmakers.
She is treasurer of the Science National Honor Society. She also competes for the Science National Honor Society and is a member of Model United Nations.
Lane participates in a non-profit organization called STEM GEMS for elementary school students.
“Every Tuesday we go to local elementary school,” she says. “We talk about STEM subjects.
We try to foster an interest and curiosity about STEM related subject. We had a popsicle stick catapult.”
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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