Lila, Mac, Gabby, Eleanor, Ivy, Ava
Through pivots, why-finding, and a lot of shared passion, the Autonomy Intertwined team set out on a mission to combat the lack of consent education for young students in their community. After intense empathy work with professionals in sex education and over a hundred high school students, they came to a founding conclusion: one must have a strong foundation of self love in order to navigate situations related to consent in a healthy way. The team also learned from their empathy and research that guiding students through these topics when they are in middle school would result in the most long-term impact on how they deal with situations now and for the rest of their life. With the team's challenge and end user solidified, they were able to define their HMW Statement: “How Might We guide middle school students to foster bodily autonomy and a respect for consent in themselves and others?” The Autonomy Intertwined team put their passion towards action and implemented a multi-day curriculum with 40 sixth graders at Future Public School. The team’s impact spanned students and teachers, even getting praise from schools from out of state. The team made a big impact with their program, with post-surveys showing that 85% of students showing early proficiency or proficiency in the topics addressed in their curriculum. One student that was impacted by this curriculum said that “Self love and consent are related because to believe that you deserve the ability to consent, you need self love.”
