School in the Square is embedding youth participatory action research into the structure of its new high school. Taking lessons from S2 youth scholarship initiatives over the past five years, starting in ninth grade, every S2 high school student will be trained as a researcher equipped to take ownership of their own story and curate their experiences and those of their respective communities. Every ninth and tenth grader to pass through S2 will become an oral historian, analyze data produced by themselves and their peers, present findings on a research question using primary evidence collected by their class, and help develop an archive that will house testimonies of the school and the community it serves. Myriad opportunities for public-facing scholarship will be available to young people including authoring publications, traveling to academic conferences, and performing this work to local leaders and policymakers in New York City.

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