Teenagers tend to get a hard time when represented in popular culture. From Chris Lilley’s Ja’mie to Mean Girls’ Regina George, or even Beavis and Butthead, teenagers are often portrayed as self-centred, shallow, poor communicators who do not show empathy for others.

While developmentally, teenagers have been shown to become increasingly oriented towards their social world and are more inclined towards peer influence than the voices of their parents or teachers, this does not mean that they lack the capacity to care about others.

This was particularly evident to the parents and friends of the Year 9 community who came to celebrate our students’ passions in the recent Nitzan Artivism evening.

The Nitzan program is designed with the teenage brain in mind. It offers the key attributes that we have come to understand can drive adolescent engagement and growth - it focuses on building community, developing real-world skills, providing passion projects and then empowering students to develop independence by being gifted opportunities to demonstrate their emerging sense of responsibility and capability.

Artivism is a component of the program which blends the students’ interest in Tikkun Olam (social action) with mentoring from an artist who guides them through a process of creating an artwork which expresses their views on the issue. Students loved the opportunity to work with experts in different media and were able to explore political cartooning, mural art, slam poetry, dance and film making.

The students researched a range of social action causes which they would like to support. Ultimately they reached consensus and were motivated to support Flying Fox, a local charity that provides camps for people with disabilities who are partnered with volunteers who act as their buddies for the experience. We were able to hear from KDS alumn Jack Hart and Year 10 student Koby G, who described the wonderful mutual benefits that King David student volunteers and their Flying Fox buddies enjoyed on the recent Year 10 Flying Fox weekend camp.

An incredible highlight of the evening was when Elijah L introduced his brother Louis to the audience. Louis has severe autism and Elijah was able to explain his unique communication style and his passion for balloons. He shared that he loves spending time with Louis and appreciates his great sense of humour and that he finds him to be “hilarious.” The deep love, respect and empathy that Elijah showed for his brother was palpable. The moment offered the audience a normalisation of difference and set the tone for the rest of the evening which were the display of outstanding art pieces and performances that our students created that explored disability and called for greater levels of inclusivity and removal of barriers to equality.

The Artivism program began last term, when the students had the opportunity to meet with a range of politicians from state and federal parliament who shared what it is that motivates them to dedicate their lives to representing their community. It will now lead on to student community service as for the remainder of this term, our Nitzan students will be spending their Wednesdays volunteering at a range of charity organisations. This will allow them to apply the job-readiness skills that they developed in Term 1 and to apply this to a worthwhile cause.

At the Artivism celebration it was apparent to all of the parents, guardians, grandparents and staff present that our Year 9 students are far more than the superficial portrayals of teenagehood that entertain us in popular culture. Rather, they are engaged, passionate, empathetic and powerful individuals who are determined to make a positive difference in the world.