How Do We Change an Existing Program and Make It Represent Who We Are as a Community?

Jodie Cohen • Cahn Fellow 2020

Madison High School is a large comprehensive zoned high school in Brooklyn, New York.  We have an enrollment of 3900 students and, throughout the years, we have learned that an effective way to encourage students to become the next best them is to engage them in discussions around the why of what they are doing. The purpose of the Cahn Project was to rebrand a pre-existing mantra – “What’s Next?” and to enhance buy-in so that students would become independent thinkers and doers. Through the progression of the project and the involvement of students, staff and parents, the mantra has evolved into a new phrase: “What’s Next – Full Creative Freedom Over Your Future”- where all constituents in the community are being given the opportunity to spread their wings and fly.