This Cape scholarship recipient wants to bring human rights awareness to the classroom

EASTHAM — Described as a "quiet leader" dedicated to social justice, 17-year-old Josie Gaynor, wants to bring that commitment to the classroom as a teacher in the future.

For that drive and vision, the senior at Nauset Regional High School was honored as recipient of the Barnstable County Human Rights Advisory Commission's 2022 Malcolm McDowell Award.

"She's always available for any kind of social justice," said Lisa Brown, a diversity educator at the high school who nominated Gaynor for the award. "She is a strong and mature class leader."

The McDowell Award, recognizes students whose energy and commitment will continue beyond their high school years, according to the commission's website.

Gaynor has been involved with the Human Rights Academy for the past three years, and has taken part in various social justice initiatives focusing on racial injustice, environmental justice, LGBTQ plus movements, and food and water insecurity at her school.

"I'm interested in all human rights initiatives, but especially movements that involve a better world for children," Gaynor said.

To be nominated for the McDowell award, candidates must demonstrate initiative, leadership and dedication to improving the human rights atmosphere of Cape Cod and the wider world, said Brown. She described Gaynor as a "quiet leader."

The award comes with a $500 scholarship, which Gaynor said will go towards college tuition.

The McDowell award, open to juniors and seniors in high schools across the Cape, honors the Rev. Malcolm McDowell, an Episcopal priest, who served parishes throughout the region, and in Connecticut, and was a member of the commission.

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McDowell also developed the Human Rights Academy — an annual fall and spring forum that allows students to reflect on their contributions to social justice, and the work it takes to create a just and peaceable world.

Gaynor's interest in social justice started at an early age

Since middle school, Gaynor had wanted to join the Human Rights Academy. Initially, she was motivated when she heard of a tally mark experiment conducted at Nauset Regional High School by the academy when Gaynor was still in middle school. For a matter of months, every time a slur of any kind was heard on school grounds, a tally mark was written on a board in the school cafeteria.

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"It racked up like crazy and it wasn’t until the whole board was full that they told people what the tally marks were for," Gaynor said.

At the time, Gaynor was hearing slurs against special needs and LGBTQ plus students, and the project at the high school intrigued her.

"It was eye opening," she said.

As time went on, Gaynor was also drawn into worldwide issues. Because the Human Rights Academy requires students to design and complete at least one project during the school year, Gaynor chose to research the lack of clean water in poor communities and underserved populations in the United States and around the globe.

"As I did research about the lack of water in low-income areas, I saw how children, especially, were being impacted by the lack of clean water," Gaynor said. "I have such a love for children, it just fueled my passion to do more."

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Education is key to social justice

The investigation involved with the project, also motivated Gaynor to pursue an education degree when she eventually goes to college next year. She hopes to one day be an elementary school teacher.

The decision to move into education, was further solidified when she was teaching small children over the summer. One day, a child in her program, said something racist which Gaynor overheard. While she was surprised, Gaynor said she realized right away that concepts surrounding hate are learned at a young age.

As an elementary school teacher, she hopes to change the way children think and help them work through any sources of hatred and change their lives for the better.

"You are not born with hate," she said. "This child was very young and didn't understand what he was saying. He didn't actually feel that way."

Many of her students want to be engaged in social justice initiatives, but Brown said it's unusual to find a student who wants to take those concepts and bring them to the classroom.

"There are a lot of kids that want to be activists, and generally that makes sense because Gen Z is very energized," said Brown, who is also an advisor for the Human Rights Academy. "What is a little bit more odd is finding somebody at this age that knows they want to teach."

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Teaching, she said, is one of the strongest and most powerful forms of activism, which is another reason why she nominated Gaynor for the McDowell award.

"Josie's human rights perspective is based on boots on the ground," she said. "But in the classroom — education will be key to a deeper understanding for students' education and for our society."

Trip planned to leadership summit in Europe

Because of her strong interest in global human rights, Gaynor will also travel to Europe with Brown in July 2023, where she will attend the three-day "Global Leadership Summit," in Berlin. Students will hear from world-renowned keynote speakers, work with local and global experts, and collaborate with peers in small international teams. Using the design-thinking process, teams will develop solutions focused on the theme "Creating a Sustainable Future," Germany, according to the summit's website.

"We can all share different perspectives from where we live and brainstorm solutions," she said. "It's going to be amazing learning from one another. I'll get a better understanding about what people around the world are facing."

Gaynor kicks off school year with activism

As Gaynor heads back to school this fall, she will not only be a Human Rights Academy co-president, but she will also dive straight into the first initiative of the year, by helping plan #WPSCapeCod, a white privilege symposium which will be held Oct. 28 to 29 at Barnstable High School.

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Brown, along with Barbara Burgo, a community activist, initiated the event, along with The Privilege Institute, which is based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The event will feature speakers like Monique Clark, Debby Irving and Eddie Moore Jr., and will cover topics like privilege, education and social justice.

The program, said Gaynor, received backlash in 2017 when it was held at Nauset Regional High School. Community members, she said, were offended by the name of the program. They thought the term "white privilege" was too harsh because they did not understand what white privilege meant..

"White privilege is a very easy thing to bypass in a lot of people's minds," she said. "But we want people to understand what it is, and accept the meaning behind it."

While she hasn't heard about any pushback against #WPSCapeCod yet, she said her fellow students, along with Burgo and Brown want to get the facts about white privilege out into the community.

"We've discussed how to go about the situation so we wouldn't upset people," she said. "But the honest truth is, not everyone is going to accept these concepts. But it's more important to get these facts out there and be bold."

Contact Rachael Devaney at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape scholarship winner wants to bring human rights awareness to kids