Federal Way students organize United in Greatness youth rally for this Saturday

Published 10:12 am Thursday, March 24, 2016

Federal Way students are taking back the narrative.

One way they’re doing it is through a student rally, called “United in Greatness,” that will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 26, at Celebration Park. The community is invited to attend.

The rally, organized by five high school seniors, was created in response to “recent tragic events” that have taken place in the Federal Way Public Schools district. One event, specifically, was the murder of 16-year-old Decatur High School student Wesley Gennings on Feb. 13. Two other Federal Way students have been charged in the case.

“That tragedy is going to prompt us to do even better things in Federal Way, and I believe the kids are the key,” said Superintendent Dr. Tammy Campbell, who worked with the community to come up with the idea for the rally. “We have to empower students to define what they know to be excellent in our schools, and to let their voices be heard, so when they go back to their schools we create a counter-narrative and we create this empowerment to make their schools a positive place.”

Partially coinciding with the “We Step Up” color run that same day, Campbell also plans to speak at the United in Greatness rally with speakers Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell and community leader Bobby Jennings.

Event organizers include Tyler Lum from Decatur High School, Jaime Yuk from Thomas Jefferson High School, Juan Gutierrez from Federal Way High School and Abdul-Malik Ford and Anastassia Kostin from Todd Beamer High School. Each has set the agenda and coordinated with singers, dancers and poets for the entertainment that will be at the rally, as well as athletic and academic champions who will be celebrated during the Parade of Champions portion of the rally.

The district held a Twitter contest for students to submit designs for free T-shirts that will be available to students who attend the rally. Student Cordell Pickens’ design, which reads “unity” and features figures of different ethnicities holding hands around the world, won the contest. In between the spaces of the figures holding hands are red hearts, and the words “United In Greatness” run across the top and bottom.

Students will receive royal blue shirts while staff members at the rally will be wearing green.

In addition to a free shirt (with limited availability), students who attend the rally will have access to free food.

Kassie Swenson, a spokeswoman for the school district, said the T-shirts were made possible by a “very generous” donation from Wild Waves.

“We hope it’s well-attended,” Swenson said. “We want to see all of our students be able to attend.”

In addition to celebrating student success, district officials said it is important they showcase the “incredible talents” of scholars across secondary schools “while enlisting our students to lead in a manner that promotes safe and positive school cultures.”

To learn more about the event, visit the Facebook event at http://on.fb.me/1WlPtuG.