The eighth grade of SAR Academy came together for Martin Luther King, Jr. day with the eighth grade of Atmosphere Academy, a charter school based in the Riverdale Jewish Center (RJC). This joint program, started in 2019, creates an opportunity for peers from different backgrounds to interact. Students watched clips from the famous “I Have a Dream” speech, the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and from the movie “Remember the Titans.”

Following the screening, students discussed together the various themes in each clip and were then broken into smaller groups to enjoy two different sessions, one led by SAR teachers on quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. and one led by Atmosphere teachers on artwork around the civil rights movement. At the start of each session students had a chance to learn about each other’s lives and daily routines and see how they are alike and how they may be different. After both sessions, the groups enjoyed a pizza lunch together and, of course, more time to just “hang out.” SAR’s partnership with Atmosphere continues as SAR eighth graders will begin the “Names, Not Numbers©” program in two weeks. Twenty-five eighth graders from Atmosphere Academy will join the SAR eighth graders twice a week to participate in the program.