My name is Paarth, and I’m from Kalamazoo, Michigan. I have been part of Beyond Differences since the start of my sophomore year in high school, and joined because I wanted to use my experiences as a middle school student who felt socially isolated to make positive change in the world. One of the...
Storytelling has always been a way to share, engage, and entertain audiences, but it is also a very powerful tool to help students connect, make difficult conversations more approachable, and leave a lasting impression. Beyond Differences is harnessing the magic of storytelling to provide tools,...
— Lunchtime Initiative Creates a Culture of Belonging and Helps Students Plant New Connections On February 16, 2024, over a million students in more than 2,000 schools all over the country will initiate new connections and contribute to a culture of belonging as they celebrate National No One Eats...
Beyond Differences’ National Teen Board Member Alysha Lee will become the youngest person to ever receive the Surgeon General’s Medallion for Health Award. Alysha will be receiving this award for her work with Beyond Differences’ Stand Up for AAPI Youth Project where she led a student group...
Beyond Differences just released its featured curriculum on Queer Visibility written by members of its National Teen Board. This dedicated group of high school students created a rich curriculum for middle schools with compelling lessons that include: A history lesson that highlights two mothers...
More than a million students celebrated belonging and inclusion during national No One Eats Alone® Day. On February 17, thousands of schools across the country celebrated No One Eats Alone® Day. For 12 years in a row, educators and student leaders organized lunchtime activities provided by Beyond...
Thanks to generous funding from the All Points North Foundation and the Louis L. Borick Foundation, Beyond Differences® launched its Dallas Educator Cohort in the Fall of 2022. As we continue to build on our relationships in Dallas and grow our Dallas Cohort, we look forward to what is in store...
Following a crisis, educators should be prepared for additional trauma, trigger responses and questions coming into your classrooms the following morning. It is not unusual for students to act out, draw inward, and display displaced emotion in reaction to the news headlines. We would like to offer...
New Curriculum Explores Immigrant and Refugee Challenges and Combatting AAPI Hate National No One Eats Alone® Day is Friday, February 17, but at Beyond Differences®, we believe that every day is No One Eats Alone Day. Why? Because building a culture of belonging makes schools and communities...
This past week, The Washington Post released a jarring article about the rising studentmental health crisis. The call for help from students, parents, and educators in oneschool district was heightened after three 15-year-old girls took their own life within athree-week period. With a lack of...
In October 2022, Beyond Differences launched its 2022-23 Educator Cohorts in Dallas, San Francisco Bay Area, and New York City. Generous funding from regional grants made it possible for educators to attend these professional learning spaces and resource their classrooms with Beyond Differences’...
Beyond Differences released its first-ever Featured Curriculum written by our National Teen Board as part of the 2022 Know Your Classmates® program. The Teen Board members who worked on this curriculum either identify as having a disability or are caregivers to a family member with a...