Our 2020 Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program originally focused on the theme of learning environments. But it was cut short as schools across the country closed due to COVID-19. Prior to the crisis, we partnered Cyrah with students in Yexenia’s middle school class. Cyrah began with a portraits project that asked the youth to use pattern, color, collage and design to describe themselves.

“This prompted the question: What makes a person who they are?” said Cyrah when describing the project. “We then decided to develop this workbook to help people get to know themselves better and provide a safe way for people to share things they wanted others to know about them. Our class came up with many aspects of what makes a person who they are, but we decided as a group to pick just 6 that we thought were the most fun.”

The middle schoolers then teamed up in groups of 3 and picked a topic. “What Makes Me ME?” is a compilation of the questions developed by each team.

One of the biggest lessons we gleaned about learning environments is that youth -- especially middle schoolers -- are eager to explore and cultivate their sense of self, but they rarely get the time and space to connect to themselves and others. Cyrah and Yexenia’s work with youth begins to close this gap by, as Cyrah puts it, asking “the questions that kids actually want to answer.”

Hear more from our interview with Cyrah about youth voice here.

The Zine

Reminiscent of personality quizzes we find online or in magazines, “What Makes Me ME?” is an interactive, playful workbook that asks who you are. Open it below - you might discover something new about yourself. 

Educators, parents and others working with youth: We invite you to support young people in exploring and expressing themselves, starting with sharing this workbook: