Three 7th Graders Discuss Finding Themselves in Chicago

Every day we see and hear first-hand—from teachers, students, and members of our community—the ways individuals and schools benefit from Facing History’s unique approach. And yet, there’s always a measure of awe when young learners reflect back to us how tuned-in they are to their Facing History education and growth.

In the spring of 2025, three seventh graders from Mitchell Elementary School spoke at Facing History Chicago’s benefit. Mitchell Elementary, part of Facing History’s Partner Schools Network, instructs PreK through 8th grade students. Once students reach the middle school track, they are introduced to Facing History curriculum.

Our student presenters—Aalya, Fidel, and Amia—were eager and well-prepared to get up in front of an adult audience and share the impact of Facing History. Not only were their insights interesting and illuminating, but their ability to look inward and compare their lived experiences with those of others belied their age.

Aalya, Fidel, and Amia had all participated in Facing History units in their social studies and English Language Arts classes, with a particular focus on the Chicago Neighborhoods Project and Borders & Belonging. For the Chicago Neighborhoods Project, each student was tasked with choosing a local area, researching its history, getting to know the people and places that made it unique, and partnering with someone older who could provide historical background on the neighborhood. With Borders & Belonging, students explored the countless ways and places that humans encounter borders, many of which aren’t simply lines on a map. In classic Facing History fashion, these units helped students make profound observations about how the past and present connect and diverge and where each of us fit into the story of America.

Below are the full remarks Aalya, Fidel, and Amia made at Facing History Chicago’s 2025 Benefit. Their thoughtful assessments on the power of Facing History showcase how young people are learning in real-time the importance of being active in their school, their communities, and in our democracy.

Perhaps educator Nathan Ramin, who introduced his students to the Chicago audience before they came on stage, summed up Aalya, Fidel, and Amia best:

“The three students you’ll hear from today carry their values with them; values they’ve learned with Facing History. They carry them with them everywhere they go.”

Fidel: My name is Fidel. And I am a half-white, half-Hispanic, only child born and raised in Chicago. Throughout my life, I was mostly raised with the Mexican heritage in my family, with my grandparents on my dad’s side being from Mexico.

Mia: My name is Amia, but you may call me Mia. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and I go to school in a different neighborhood. Throughout my school life connecting with others has always been challenging. 

Aalya: And I’m Aalya. I’m Hispanic and have lived in the West Town neighborhood of Chicago for my entire life. I grew up speaking English and Spanish. My family always owned our heritage and were proud to be Hispanic.

We are all seventh graders at Mitchell Elementary School and we were invited to speak about our experiences with Facing History & Ourselves. We all believe Facing History has taught us something important that we will carry with us forever, and we wanted to share that with you today.

Fidel: One very important Facing History experience I had earlier this year was the Chicago Neighborhoods Project. In this project, we chose a neighborhood that connected to us in some way and where we had an elder who could tell us the past of that neighborhood. For this project, I chose to research the Little Village neighborhood. I chose this neighborhood because I knew my dad had a lot of experiences there. And since it is a mostly Hispanic neighborhood, my dad’s family and I felt very connected with that neighborhood.

Every time my dad and I would go to Little Village, he would point out certain locations and would tell me what happened there in the past. When I started researching locations in Little Village where I used to go to all the time, it brought back memories from when I was young—not only memories with myself, but also with my family.

This project created an opportunity for me to ask my dad about his experiences in the neighborhood and about his childhood. It helped me realize that I did not ask my dad about himself as much as I thought I did. Through the interviews that I had with my dad, I learned how connected he was with the neighborhood. He told me about how almost every day, he would hang out with the neighborhood kids and is still friends with some of them today. In addition to learning about my dad, I also learned about Little Village. I learned how it was labeled in the past and how it was almost a redlined neighborhood. This meant they didn’t have the same access to housing loans as other neighborhoods.

Ultimately, the Chicago Neighborhoods Project made me realize how much I connected with Little Village in the past and in the present. This project helped me channel my younger self by researching locations I was really connected to. Now, after researching, I will drive past those locations and try to picture those experiences my dad told me in comparison to how it is today.

Mia: The Chicago Neighborhoods Project also helped me learn more about Chicago and myself. I chose to research the neighborhood I’ve lived in my whole life, Marquette Village. Marquette Village is a neighborhood located on the South Side of Chicago. My dad first moved there with his mom when he was young and has lived there since then. When my dad lived there as a child, there was a lot of racism, and KKK members were terrorizing the neighborhood. After they would go away for a little while, my parents returned to the neighborhood to have a family.

This project was going to be more about the people within the community. It helped me become more aware of how others might think about themselves and how I, as a friend, and just as a person, can help them. It also taught me to become more social with the people in my community. Most of the time, I don’t really talk to my community, but the project helped me become more comfortable with people around me. This project taught me more about my past and why we live where we do now. Because of this project, I am able to connect to my community better, which has also made me a little bit more social wherever I go.

Aalya: A Facing History experience that stood out to me was the Borders & Belonging All-Community Read unit in my ELA class. Our teacher had to choose between three books that explored the theme of borders and belonging. I chose to read Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga, which is a book about a girl who moves from Syria to the United States and faces all kinds of borders while in America. These borders keep her from belonging in her new home. And I chose this book because the challenges the character faced drew me in. This unit helped me to understand that people could struggle with belonging due to the physical and invisible borders that society creates, borders created by language, nationality, and distance.

I hadn’t really thought about borders before the unit, but after, I realized the struggles that people face in order to belong. I learned how closely belonging and identity are intertwined and how, sometimes, your own identity is a border that impacts your sense of belonging. I even gained new feelings about my own identity and belonging. I realized I should be more proud of my Latina identity and care more about it because others can’t always do that. For example, in Other Words for Home the main character faces judgment for a part of her identity, which was her nationality. From this, I realized I am lucky to be able to belong, to be able to be myself without judgment, as I am in a community who make me feel like I can belong as myself. I don’t face the same judgment as the main character does, which makes me feel like I should be more grateful for that and continue to be loud and proud about who I am, since I have the safety and opportunity to do so.

We can always try to help others along so they don’t have to face borders. This will help us build a strong community that provides safety and comfort for a lot of people. Either way, we should be able to welcome others and help them face their struggles when it comes to belonging.

Our experiences of Facing History have helped us connect with our identities, our families, and our communities. We have learned about the history of neighborhoods, and we have learned to remove barriers to belonging, and we have learned to remove barriers to belonging and help others be who they are, and we have learned to be social within our communities.

We thank you for supporting Facing History in schools so we can continue to realize things about ourselves and the world around us and helping to stop bigotry and hate.

All three: Thank you.