We swapped ideas.
With the support of its sponsors—both Impact Earth and Education Doctorate (Ed.D.) in Executive Leadership at St. John Fisher College—Thinking Forward, a speaker’s troupe I helped start, celebrated National Swap Ideas Day on September 10 with a program that included talks from three Millennials and a dance performance from the Avenue D Afro Latino Dance Group.
The Millennials, the young dancers (aged four to 13 years old), and the more seasoned participants in the room all wrote out their answers to the following question, shared it with someone in the room, and placed it in an Idea Box. Here is what they wrote, clustered into various categories.
What is needed to transform this world into a richer, more vibrant place?
Friends and neighbors
My idea is to move more and smile.
My idea is to give more hugs because everyone is struggling with something and hugs are free!
Make more connections to change other people’s lives!
My idea is to be a friend and be grateful. How to be grateful? That means you need to be nice!
We can say hi to people we pass on the street and our neighborhood.
Say hello to everyone in the neighborhood.
We need to get to know our neighbors first and then go beyond and introduce ourselves to someone new!
Pet Introduction Day. A small group of people meet to introduce their pets and, in doing so, meet each other. It’s like a blind date for dogs or cats with people as the hosts. It would help single and elderly people with pets meet each other.
Sharing
Have more food shares.
Start with a potluck with your neighbors.
Have community tool shares.
Swap houses.
Have one month of tech that’s free.
Involvement
Find time during the year to donate energy, time, and resources to a cause that influences the local community. Get involved!
I would like more activities that allow us to get involved.
Use the Slow Road idea of getting up off your couch to motivate students to explore new ideas that will help everyone contribute to something positive for the community.
Invite others to come out and try something.
My idea is not to make things worse.
Cleaning
Clean garbage in the street and keep it clean.
I can clean and keep promises and respect everyone around me.
One thing I could do to improve my community is to have a cleaning group every week to clean my community.
Safety
We should have more police present in the community.
Create a safe public place for people to gather and exchange ideas on a regular basis.
No more violence in the world.
Parks and gardens
I love vertical community parks and gardens.
I would like to see more community gardens.
My idea is to start a neighborhood garden with all of my friends.
Schools
My idea is to make my school a better place.
Arts and music
Have people tell their stories so everyone knows what everyone else is doing.
Do storytelling.
I think everyone should learn to play a drum.
Have music in the community. Different types of musically inclined people gather at various venues and play for each other.
To make the dance group a better place is to make sure that everyone comes on time and every day.
Have more community dance groups.
Sustainability
Bring your own reusable bags (BYOB) initiative.
Take compost buckets to work.
Do recycling in public schools. There is so much paper and waste.
Make a sustainable impact.
Chocolate
I would like to encourage everyone to know where chocolate comes from and what community is impacted.
What can we do to make school a place that students want to be each day?
During the Question and Answer session, the dancers (and others) shared their responses:
Play multiple games.
Have end-of-the-day activities that consist of kids’ favorite activities.
Make learning more fun by singing our lessons.
Have fewer strict teachers.
Allow kids to interact with and engage their teachers and share their ideas with the class.
Assess what it known first to determine what to teach.
What’s next?
With so many wonderful, thoughtful ideas swapped, it’s time to move beyond the ideas and explore next steps. Your thoughts for moving forward?
Judith Shenouda 