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Bernice Fedestin: What This Kid Can Do
Student documentarian turned education activist.
by Sara Bernard
Credit: Thomas Reis
More to Explore:
Daring Dozen 2004 -- Bernice Fedestin: Student and Documentarian
When Bad Teachers Happen to Good Students: Communication Is the Key to Change
Student activist Bernice Fedestin, who made a documentary film during her junior year of high school about the disparities between urban and suburban schools, is just as busy as ever. She reports, wistfully, that her project was not particularly well received at her own school, where she hoped it would have the most impact, but she is hardly discouraged.
Fedestin's film, funded by a $5,000 grant from the organization What Kids Can Do, provided an entrée to a conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a conversation with a deputy superintendent of the Boston Public Schools, and an event sponsored by the Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform -- activities that have helped keep her reformist torch ablaze.
Now an energetic sophomore at Brown University, Fedestin dumped her original idea of going into biological research because, she says, "I was too invested in education reform." Her new major, education and public policy, is more aligned with her passions and goals. In addition to hitting the books at Brown, she's working with the Annenberg Institute for Urban School Reform on its Web site, Understanding Equity and Excellence at Scale. In this and many other ways, she affirms, "I hope I can leave my mark on education."
Next Still Daring 2007 profile > Angus King 2004
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