I, too, am America

Join LA Times HS Insider, PBS SoCal, artworxLA, and students from high schools across Los Angeles for an intimate evening of live student stories and art exploring the theme "I, too, am America."

Building off the iconic Langston Hughes poem, "I, too," student writers and artists from different schools across the city worked together over the past two months to explore their place in the evolving American landscape. The students' work is published on HS Insider and PBS SoCal, and students will present their work through spoken word, music, video, and theater on February 16.

Light refreshments will be provided. Please note that this event is first come, first served, and that all RSVPs are contingent on capacity.

Preview student projects here and here.

Special thanks to our many wonderful partners at the following organzations: artworxLA, 826LA, and schools: South East, Granada Hills Charter, CHAMPS (Charter High School of the Arts), Mendez, St. Genevieve, Corona del Mar, East LA Renaissance Academy, Orange County High School of the Arts (OCSHA), LA River School, Etiwanda, Social Justice Humanitas, and Daniel Pearl Magnet. ]

About PBS SoCal's Student Reporting Labs-- Student Reporting Labs is a youth journalism partnership between PBS SoCal, local high schools, and PBS Newshour that provides curriculum, intensive mentorship, and local/national platforms for student-created reports on national and global issues affecting their communities. Student Reporting Labs gives the next generation of public media journalists agency to tell their own stories, and elevates youth perspectives to a national audience.

About LA Times HS Insider High School Insider is a cornerstone of the Los Angeles Times’ commitment to advancing media literacy and empowering the next generation of storytellers. The program includes a content platform that publishes student work on LATimes.com, as well as classroom resources, conferences, contests, and paid internships. High School Insider works to amplify student voices around the issues that matter to them, with a focus on underserved schools and communities.

About artworxLA: Formerly The HeArt Project, combats L.A.'s epidemic high school dropout crisis with a long-term, sequential arts program.

About Mendez High School: Named after civil-rights pioneers who ended de jure segregation in California with the landmark Mendez v. Westminster case of 1947, Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School opened in 2009 as the first LAUSD High School built in Boyle Heights in over 80 years. In its short history, Mendez has achieved important academic successes, such as reaching a 94% graduation rate in 2016 and having the highest API improvement among all traditional public high schools in California in 2012-2013.