I think that, especially in the current environment, students have always recognized that they had “power” but in my experience, didn’t always have a productive outlet for their complaints or things they wanted to change; the experience was hopelessness for solving problems and/or thinking that someone else was responsible. This project helped them understand how to own their experience and take responsibility for their experience and community in a way that I have not seen before. I would say the “a-ha!” moment was about 3 weeks into the project when a student said, “wait – we’re *actually* DOING this? I thought this was just pretend.” Apparently that feeling was similar across all of the classes, as the rest of the day students were kind of shocked they’d actually be contacting representatives and decision makers to make their goal actually happen. Once we got over the initial shock of “doing something real” and “they won’t listen to us” comments – students really started to own the project and their ideas and their justifications; they started to develop an understanding of their responsibility in the communities to which they belong. It was such a great thing to see, I was really proud of them and maybe shocked a little bit myself about the shift I saw and felt in their behavior, language, and demeanor.