by Connie Fink, fifth-grade social studies teacher
Post-election letters written to a congressman become a first-person history lesson for USN students.
Georgia Martin ’24, Jessica Penilton ’24, Harper Phillips ’24, and Harper Martin ’26 shared with U.S. Rep. John Lewis their thoughts on the 2016 presidential election and were greeted with reassurance and a history lesson.
Lewis, a longtime congressman whose district includes much of Atlanta, was in Nashville to speak at the Nashville Public Library Foundation’s Literary Award Gala. While here, he visited the office of former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee and USN parent Jerry Martin, a civil rights attorney. When his daughters and their friends walked into Martin’s office they found Lewis signing books. Nervous at the thought of meeting him and with butterflies in their stomach, they approached the congressman to hand him thank you cards they had personally created for him. While they found Lewis to have a serious look and deep voice, they quickly felt reassured by his kind demeanor. They were armed with a list of questions they had prepared ahead of time. Some of their questions were:
How do you think Trump will affect America?
How will Trump affect minorities in America?
Will Trump build a wall?
Why do you think the Electoral College is fair?
Lewis told them he hopes Trump will protect all people. He said to hope for the positive instead of the negative. He doesn't know what will happen but mentioned minorities have passed too many milestones to let someone reverse progress, so we'll fight if we must. His most surprising response was about the Electoral College. They thought he would be in favor of the Electoral College; however, he agreed with them that the Electoral College isn't fair.
On the presidential election night, fifth graders participated in a live class chat. The experience shed light on the electoral versus popular voting process. It was fun to make predictions and exciting to follow the twists and turns of the evening as the polls closed. It was also a wonderful active learning opportunity for students to understand how U.S. presidents are elected. After the election, Phillips was inspired to write a letter to the government about the Electoral College. Meeting Lewis was perfect timing, allowing Johnson to hand-deliver her letter.
They were fascinated by the story Lewis told them about being the only person alive that spoke on the day Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Lewis was the sixth speaker and King the 10th speaker. At end of that day, they went to the White House to see then President John F. Kennedy; it was the last time Lewis saw King before he was assassinated.
They ended their meeting taking a picture with the congressman. As they got ready to take the photo Lewis said, “Come closer, I’m not going to bite you,” the girls recalled. After meeting with Lewis, they each made handprints with their hands that shook Lewis’ hand.
Aliza Ahmed '26, Uma Ehrig '26, Victor Peng '26, Ruchika Ramachandran '27, and Yvonne Wang '27 participated in the Asian Educators Alliance conference this year in Atlanta, Georgia.
Anna Brook '30, Claire Yu '30, Clio Cherry-Pulay '29, and Liam Mooney '28 took him the championship during the 4th annual USN Middle School Quiz Bowl Championships. Two teams will travel to Chicago to compete in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments Middle School National Championships on Saturday, May 10.
Cpl. Robert Gibson joined University School of Nashville in November as a School Resource Officer, a certified police officer who is primarily assigned to a school and provides safety and security-related functions, including emergency response, safety training, traffic direction, and patrol functions.
USN Mission: University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.