Creating a more educated and aware student body. A Hartford school is teaching kids about the AAPI community, exposing them to different cultures and backgrounds.
Whether it’s through poetry or through story time, students at Breakthrough Magnet School South in Hartford are getting lessons about the AAPI community and its history.
“Some of them are aware that people look a little different from them and have different cultures and beliefs,” Miriram Vasquez, a teacher said.
She said it’s an excellent opportunity to expose kids to new stories and narratives they aren’t used to hearing through guest speakers.
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“It’s not until they hear personal stories and seeing real things around them that they understand the importance of including everyone and accepting and fostering those relationships,” Vasquez said.
One of those speakers is UConn Asian studies professor Jason Chang.
He explained to students the Chinese contributions to our country’s first transcontinental railroad and the lack of inclusion in the final photo.
“When we’re able to show authentic voices, that Asian American history is all around them, that it provides actual facts about their community,” he said.
These were facts that eighth grader Kaylee Rodriguez didn’t know before.
She said learning about the Chinese railroad contribution was eye-opening.
“Understanding the treatment they received, it’s not really great as it was. They should be appreciated for the work that they have created,” she said.
Rodriguez said understanding that history has practical applications today.
“Everyone needs to be treated equally because you don’t know a person until you have read their story,” she said.
Principal Holly Gustafson said these lessons and activities drive home the school’s motto in making “A global school for students of character” whether through education or service.
“Are we creating leaders? Are we creating change makers? Are we creating students that are respectful, kind?” she said.
With public schools required to teach AAPI studies in the 2025-2026 school year across Connecticut, Gustafson said her school is ready.
“We could even be a model for it here. We piloted it. We started it,” she said.
Professor Chang said what the magnet school is doing is already making an impact after experiencing a moment while reading a picture book to a class about a Vietnamese family.
“Every one of the students was pointing something that they identified with in the story, and they weren’t all Asian American, but it was a story they could all connect to,” he said.
