Building a Project with Youth Circle Keepers on Staten Island

There’s something magical about watching a young person become a Circle Keeper—especially if they are 9 years old!

This is Morningside Center’s second school year working in Staten Island in partnership with Passion Quick-Foy, Borough Director of Restorative Justice Programs for the Office of Stafey and Youth Development (OSYD) at DOE. Passion and MSC Staff Developers Victoria Cheng-Gorini and Jonah Braverman have collaborated to design and implement a program for youth Circle Keepers—and by youth, I mean as young as 3rd - 5th graders! In total this project lives in 25 (of 74 total) schools in Staten Island including elementary, middle and high schools—more than 1/3 of the borough!

Passion was eager to bring Morningside’s work in restorative practices (RP), equity and social emotional learning (SEL) into the schools she works with. As she began to develop a program, she found that school leaders were most interested in starting with students themselves. This lead Passion and Victoria to create a student leadership program to share Morningside’s core practices of RP, SEL and equity.

“Passion and I,” said Victoria, “saw the impact of restorative circles and wondered how do we use this approach on Staten Island to build student voice?” In year one, she said, “the students did an amazing job.” So now, in year two, the project has grown. 

What are these young Circle Keepers doing? 

All students in the program are Circle Keepers, teaching SEL skills and building community through games and activities that allow them to build relationships and trust.

Kids are excited about being Circle Keepers! All student cohorts received 9 hours of training along with 4 days of coaching. Here’s what some of the youngest say about our project:

• “I like being a Circle Keeper because I can help kids like me and be a leader.” 
• I like “to bring our community together, share our thoughts and ideas with other people, share positivity, connect and share kindness.”
• “I like being a Circle Keeper because it makes me feel like a leader. I want to keep going in the program because I learned how to take responsibility….”

The students trained in year one (the 24-25 school year) are now mentors to a new group of students receiving training and coaching. As Victoria explains, “they love showing the new kids the ropes. ‘This is how we make lesson plans…’”

In addition, adults are excited to see their students take leadership roles—exactly what Passion was hoping for. Educators who are part of this project offered:

• “It makes me proud and happy to build community in our school.”
• “I enjoy seeing how the students come together to participate in a common goal. I also like how it includes everyone and allows students to participate as much or as little as they feel comfortable.”

Victoria is confident that being Circle Keepers will be transformative for the students but also for the school as a whole as this work begins to affect climate and culture.

When I asked what gives Victoria hope as she has witnessed the work develop, she shared:

“There is this one boy,” a wide grin came across her face, “he’s all over the place. But when he leads circles, he is so professional! On his own, he just started offering Spanish translation to his Spanish-speaking peers.” (This is a fourth grader!)

“He noticed,” she continued, “that the kindergarten students really needed his directions to be translated—he could see these little kids were frustrated… he’s a natural. His leadership and voice are rising to the moment!” 

Let me leave you with the powerful words of one last young Circle Keeper:

I like being a Circle Keeper because it's fun 

and you can speak to other kids and you are talking about community agreements.

Also, you can have an open mind and open heart

and respect each other and also one mic.