School updates: A history of protest at Jackson-Reed; UDC’s new School of Education; the science of dog walking

The Jackson-Reed High School graduation in June will be the school’s 90th commencement.

That’s a lot of years, and a lot of history – not all confined to Jackson-Reed classrooms.

The March issue of the Jackson-Reed student newspaper, The Beacon, covers the February 27th anti-ICE protest that drew high schoolers from across the region to the Lincoln Memorial. Around 300 JRHS students walked out of class to take part.

And at least one student skipped school to witness the conclusion of another type of demonstration: the Buddhist monks’ 15-week Walk for Peace.

If you’re sensing a theme developing here, The Beacon also dives into the school’s history of protest movements. A two-page spread in the print edition looks back on a 2014 gay rights protest, a walkout after the 2016 election, an attempted Vietnam War-era demonstration, and the advocacy surrounding the school’s name change from Woodrow Wilson High in 2022.

While you’re flipping through the pages, make sure you check out the last one: a photo montage from the February protest at the Lincoln Memorial

A portion of the photo montage. (Image courtesy of the Jackson-Reed Beacon)

UDC news

The University of the District of Columbia traces its history to 1851, when Myrtilla Miner opened the Miner Normal School for Black teachers.

On the 175th anniversary of its predecessor school’s founding, UDC announced a renewed focus on teacher training and the launch of its School of Education and Learning Sciences.

The school will offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees in adult education, early childhood education, elementary and special education.

WTOP interviewed the school’s interim dean, Anika Spratley Burtin.

The university is also getting $6.2 million dollars in federal funding for various programs, including $2 million for upgrading labs in its School of Engineering and College of Arts and Sciences.

At one UDC engineering lab, student and faculty researchers have been studying the physics of walking your dog, and specifically the forces at work when a dog pulls at the leash.

WTOP covered that story, too.