Atlanta Public Schools students participating in the Minecraft Education Level Up Challenge were asked how they could “envision a connected, equitable and sustainable future that moves Atlanta forward without leaving anyone behind.”
Kennedi Price, a 10-year-old student at Drew Charter School, tackled the problem by using a Minecraft template to design a virtual apartment space for parents who have physical disabilities. It was complete with ramps, elevators, places for people to read using braille, and a food center for unhoused people.
On Wednesday, Kennedi got to meet Mayor Andre Dickens and received accolades as one of the winners in the Minecraft challenge, and attended Dickens’ celebration of his “Year of the Youth” initiative. Kennedi was among 300 APS students who participated in the Minecraft challenge and one of a dozen winners.
“This is really big,” Kennedi said before the event began in the City Hall atrium. “It’s still very hard to believe that I’m here right now, but I guess I’d better believe it.”
More than 400 people attended the celebration, where Dickens spoke about the impact of his initiative, which aimed to keep young Atlantans involved in after-school programs and safe from gun violence.
“Last year I stood here and told y’all that I wanted to make this city the best place in the country to raise a child,” he told the crowd. “I told y’all I wanted us to be able to ask each other, ‘How are the children?’ and be able to honestly respond, ‘All the children are well.’
“So let’s talk today and see how we did.”
He noted that the city invested $5 million in Year of Our Youth and raised another $16 million for it. He said his administration provided grants for childcare providers serving low-income families. The initiative also included a Child Savings Account program and a summer youth employment program where more than 5,000 youth were hired and received an average wage of more than $17 per hour.
“We paid real money for these young people’s real work experience,” Dickens said.
He added: “I am so proud to say that over the course of our Year of the Youth initiative, we have been able to provide services to more than 30,000 of our young people.”
Dickens also touted a $1 million commitment to expand “safe spaces” for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta.
David Jernigan, president and CEO of the metro area’s Boys & Girls Clubs, said the investment will go toward efforts to bring more teens into the safe environments of the 25 clubs spanning 10 counties in the metro area; increasing staff to serve more teens; bolstering academic supports for youth; investing in technology; teen-focused transportation; and extending operating hours.
Of the hundreds of people in the City Hall atrium for Wednesday’s event, Kennedi’s mother was among the proudest.
Shandeana Price-Steel, who works as an EMT and lives in Atlanta’s Westside, said her fourth-grade daughter loves science, reading and writing her own stories. Price-Steel burst into tears when she found out her daughter won.
“It means a lot,” Price-Steel said. “It’s showing how talented, how resourceful and how caring my child is. To even think of building something for people that normally can’t help themselves all the time — it means I’m doing something right.”
About the Author
