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Compadre Academy wins ASU's Better Together Challenge
The competition empowers — and funds — high school and middle school students who want to see positive change in their communities
High school sometimes seems like a Darwinian environment: survival is dependent on keeping up with the crowd, creating barriers, and maintaining the status quo.
But the status quo sometimes needs a shake-up, and an Arizona State University-led initiative is helping high school and middle school students do just that. Students from Compadre Academy in Tempe won the 2018 Better Together Challenge for their project to better their school and community through inclusiveness.
Ten Arizona middle schools and high schools participated in the 2018 Better Together Challenge, a program developed by the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at ASU.
"When schools are inclusive, safe, and equitable, students feel a sense of belonging and comfort," said Professor Laura Hanish, deputy director of the Sanford School. "This helps students to engage and participate in school activities and, ultimately, the benefits are seen in students' interest in and motivation for school and their achievement."