INDIANAPOLIS — The crime surge is making the city take a hard look at solutions for how to slow things down. One teacher thinks she has found a way to help.
As a social studies teacher working on the east side of Indianapolis, Claudia White looked at launching Youth Global Perspectives as a gateway to opening students' minds about life outside the city.
"Traveling gets them out of their comfort zone to a whole different environment where they don't have a choice but to respect it because they are surrounded by it," White said.
In White's eyes, students were only acting out because of boredom.
Her solution is to give them trips to look forward to, show them cultures they've never been exposed to and remind them there's a whole wide world out there waiting for them to explore.
Since 2016, White has helped eighth graders and high school students see new places outside their neighborhood for little or no cost to them.
"The students we serve are the ones that won't have these opportunities. They are students that on spring break or summer break they are going to auntie and uncle houses," White said.
It might not be the end all, be all to solving the city's crime issue, but White thinks it is a piece of the puzzle.
"We've been to Cuba and Mexico. We've been to New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Virginia, St. Louis, Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Okla.," she said.
In June, the group will take eight students to Spain for 21 days and White hopes that taking students to where the wonder began for her will give young people the mindset shift needed to spark change.
Click here for more information about Youth Global Perspectives or email youthglobalperspectives@gmail.com.
