By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The next 8th-grade class at Explorer West Middle School (WSB sponsor) will start school this week, looking ahead to a year that ends with an EWMS tradition: “Change The World” projects.

We’ve covered some of these over the 8 years that they’ve been a vital part of the EWMS curriculum.

Last year’s EWMS 8th-grade graduates included four young women whose project has the potential of changing the school experience for students throughout our state.

They focused on the inequities of school dress codes, particularly how they discriminate against, and sexualize, young girls.

And their research and advocacy gained an influential audience: They presented their work to the Washington School Directors’ Association, an organization of school-board members from all over the state. They also gained the attention of a state legislator who’s interested in championing their cause to potentially change state law.

Tim Owens, the Explorer West dean of students, is the teacher who has long led the classes that result in the Change The World projects. He was there when his now-former students made their dress-code presentation to the association, and says, “The reception was really strong.” The students’ research observed that “girls are being taught that their bodies are a distraction.” Yes, there need to be some rules for everyone – “don’t show your private parts” – but otherwise, students should be able to wear comfortable clothes. (He describes EWMS’s policy as “inclusive.”)

We talked with Sadie, one of the students who worked on the project. She explained that they started off with an interest in researching “child beauty pageants,” but their research on that dead-ended so they decided to take on the subject of dress codes. Sadie said they found that students of color were also disproportionately “dress-coded” – it wasn’t just a gender issue. But in the latter regard, they noted a situation in Florida this year where officials at a school altered photographs of 80 students for the yearbook, to make their clothing appear more modest. Every single one of the 80 students in those photos was female. Even boys who showed the same amount of skin were left alone.

Dress codes can vary from school to school, district to district. Statewide standards could lessen the discrimination and uncertainty. State Rep. Mia Gregerson of South King County is one of several legislators who sat in on last school year’s Change The World presentations, and she told the girls she was willing to work with them on potential state legislation. (Gregerson wasn’t available for comment before publication of this story, but we’ll be following up with her to see where this goes in the next legislative session.)

So these four students’ work isn’t done, even though the students are off to different high schools. Sadie said she’s proud to “feel like I’m making a difference.”

Owens says the dress-code project was one of 10 for his Explorer West students last year (other groups’ topics included cash-bail abolition and “pink taxes”). Coordinating the projects under pandemic-related restrictions was a challenge; one facet of the project, community canvassing, had to be omitted these past two springs. But Owens is proud of how the project launches students into the next chapter of their lives: “It’s like sending out ambassadors for change.”