Shifting the narrative with an inaugural community engagement celebration
ARIS students sharing stories and reflections at the inaugural service and community engagement celebration day in 2024/25.
What happens when you give students a platform to share their community engagement work with the entire school community? At ARIS (Al-Rayan International School), this question has transformed how the entire school community understands the power of authentic community engagement and learning.
In the 2024/25 academic year, ARIS’s CAS coordinator Kelvin Apeti and MYP coordinator Temi Ray-Odekeye decided to organize a service and community engagement celebration for all students involved in the MYP (Middle Years Program) and DP (Diploma Program). This encompasses all students in grade 6 - 12, as community engagement plays a role in all aspects of the International Baccalaureate’s MYP and DP programs. Kelvin and Temi’s celebration, as you’ll see from the details that follow, was a grassroots, inclusive, and participatory event that involved students, educators, parents, and community partners.
"The thing I appreciate about our service celebration was supporting students in understanding that what they have done is appreciated and shared with others," reflects Kelvin. "Helping students know that others can be inspired through what they have done is the key for me."
A Carefully Orchestrated Day of Stories
The service and community engagement celebration featured multiple presentation formats to accommodate different learning styles and showcase preferences:
TED Talks where students shared their journeys and insights
Video displays featuring student-created documentaries and advocacy pieces
Panel discussions with younger students asking questions of older student experts
Table displays with hands-on demonstrations and artifact sharing
Interactive storytelling sessions where audiences could engage directly with student presenters
The day began with Grade 6 students presenting their work on reducing inequalities, including a song and skit they had created. Grade 8 students led panel discussions about climate change and reducing carbon footprints, with community experts joining student panelists. In addition to these two whole-group sessions, CAS students shared their experiences using Ted Talks-inspired presentations and digital displays, and groups rotated through classrooms and table display areas to learn more about MYP interdisciplinary learning experiences and CAS projects.
"The structure gave us flexibility to be able to help guide students to move from point A to point B," explains Kelvin, adding that the rotation system he and Temi created ensured everyone became both presenter and audience, creating cross-pollination of ideas across grade levels.
Inspiring the Next Generation of Changemakers
One of the most powerful aspects of the community engagement celebration, for both Kelvin and Temi, was watching younger students engage with older students' work. "We had the PYP students (grade 5) come through, and they were asking questions like ‘how did you do it?’ or ‘why did you do it’?" Kelvin notes. "I realized that, yes, these are questions we ask when we reflect meaningfully on community engagement experiences."
The ripple effects of the community engagement celebration were immediate in this regard. Younger students began seeing pathways for expanding their own projects: "Some year 8s saw what DP (grade 11 and 12) students are doing, and they understood what kind of work they are approaching. And they said, 'Can I move on with what I have already?' So they know that what they have started in terms of service can be expanded," reflects Kelvin.
This continuity transforms how students view community engagement, not as isolated projects, but as an ongoing commitment to the issues and partnerships they care about.
Creating Cultural Change Through Storytelling
Perhaps most significantly, the inaugural service and community engagement celebration at ARIS continued to shift school culture by making community engagement visible and celebrated.
"When you start doing this kind of deliberate storytelling and celebrating and sharing, it shines a spotlight on it. Now you're channeling people's attention and amplifying the dialogue,” reflects Kelvin.
Students begin seeing themselves as changemakers whose work matters. Parents witness their children's depth of thinking and commitment. Teachers observe the seamless integration of academic learning with real-world impact. And each of these experiences and impacts shifts school culture in meaningful ways.
The Planning That Made It Possible
The logistical details of what Kelvin and Temi planned for the first ARIS service and community engagement celebration combined to create a really successful event. Some highlights included:
Two main sessions for all participants with different presentation formats
Rotating audiences so everyone experienced multiple presentations
Grade-level progression from younger students presenting first to maximize engagement and attention
Flexible venues accommodating different presentation styles and options for engagement
Teacher supervision in each room to support student presenters
Strategic timing ensuring 20-minute engagement windows and well-timed rotations
Another logistical aspect of planning for the service and community engagement celebration day was preparing the students to share their stories, and to view their community engagement experiences with a narrative lens. I was able to work with Kelvin’s DP students from the beginning of the 2024/25 school year to introduce some storytelling strategies including:
activating each student’s care for local and global issues using a venn diagram about individual interests/hobbies/passions and what the world needs in terms of taking meaningful action, as part of a workshop about becoming a changeseeker and changemaker
engaging students in a short online course about “creating and sharing a digital story” to equip and empower students to know how to use storytelling strategies to share their CAS journeys
Then, as students began to plan how to share their CAS stories at the service and community engagement celebration, Kelvin used purposeful reflection prompts like the ones below to guide their thinking:
Who is your audience?
How are you delivering the message?
Are you delivering such that somebody gets inspired, or are you just presenting for presentation's sake?
Looking Forward: Sustainable Celebration
The service and community engagement celebration was so successful in 2024/25 that it's expanding this year, and will be an annual part of the ARIS community engagement program.
"Students love what they experienced during the service celebration," Kelvin reflects. "Knowing that students love what they did means so much to me."
When schools create intentional spaces for students to share their community engagement work, something magical happens. Students become storytellers and educators, and spark inspiration for others. They begin to see themselves as impactful changeseekers and changemakers whose commitment to positive change can spark authentic and ongoing dialogue and action.
Below: more photos of the inaugural ARIS service and community engagement celebration day, including students presenting in classrooms, through Ted Talks-style presentations, a panel discussion, the presentation of a song, and some table displays about community engagement experiences.
To learn more about the ARIS service and community engagement celebration, as well as the storytelling strategies Kelvin is using with his DP CAS students, check out the video interview with Kelvin (below).
