{"id":4660,"date":"2022-04-25T08:15:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T13:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ele.local\/?p=4660"},"modified":"2022-04-25T08:15:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T13:15:20","slug":"student-voice-zaire-mcmican-takes-a-long-term-perspective-on-equity-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everylearnereverywhere.org\/es\/blog\/student-voice-zaire-mcmican-takes-a-long-term-perspective-on-equity-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Voice: Zaire McMican Takes a Long-term Perspective on Equity Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zaire McMican didn\u2019t know there was a name for what he\u2019d seen and experienced growing up in Newark, New Jersey until reading The Autobiography of Malcom X in eighth grade. McMican\u2019s teacher, Miss Wallace, introduced him to topics such as internalized oppression and systemic racism, and a lightbulb clicked in McMican\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just would see things and wonder why certain things were a certain way,\u201d he says. \u201cFor instance, seeing the suburbs on TV, I always wondered, \u2018Why isn’t it like that here?\u2019 Getting that explained to me and shown to me \u2014 why certain people have to live a certain way and how all the systems and the past have led to now \u2014 it opened my eyes. That’s where I first started to become interested in racial equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

A leadership opportunity for minoritized and poverty-affected students<\/h2>\n

Six years later as a sophomore at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, it was that interest in equity that prompted McMican to apply for the Every Learner Everywhere\u00ae Student Fellowship<\/a>, becoming one of 10 students selected to be a Spring 2022 Fellow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the six months of the program, Fellows work with one of the Every Learner network partners on projects that align with the students\u2019 academic and professional interests. The program\u2019s goals are to:<\/p>\n