Teens Work to Save Freedom Tower

It's always good to see kids getting positively involved with the community.

That's why I was very pleased to read this article in the Neighbors section of the Miami Herald about a group of eight-grade students from Arvida Middle School, only a short walk from 26th Parallel headquarters, whose social studies class assignment is to start a grass-roots movement to save the Freedom Tower from developers' plans that would basically resort the treasured building to a glorified high-rise condo ornament.

Congratulations to teacher Rebecca Mazzarella and her students for taking on this noble endeavor. I wish them the best of luck.

Class assignment turns into grass-roots activism. A teacher is using the controversy over the future of Miami's Freedom Tower to teach students about civic activism.

BY JOSELLE GALIS-MENENDEZjgalis-menendez@herald.com
A group of teens at Arvida Middle is planning a protest that includes songs, T-shirts, petitions and speeches before Miami commissioners.

No, this isn't a throwback to the 1960s. The kids are spearheading a movement to save the Freedom Tower -- now.

The students in Rebecca Mazzarella's eighth-grade social studies class are learning a lesson in community activism, courtesy of the controversy plaguing Miami's historical preservationists.

''I've followed this story,'' Mazzarella said, ``and as a history and civics teacher, you think, my God, we have to be aware of what's going on in our community.''

Recently, developer Pedro Martin of Terra Group unveiled plans before the Miami Planning Advisory Board to tear out the back of the 80-year-old building and keep the rest as an ornament for a new 62-story condominium.

The board rejected the plan, but Miami commissioners must give final approval. The Freedom Tower is endeared by many Cuban Americans because that is where they first received immigration papers and rations.

Mazzarella and her class worry the historical site is far from safe. Wednesday morning, enlarged black and white photographs of the tower lined the walls, while students sat quietly, hunched over recent newspaper clippings.

The classroom is the headquarters of a preteen political movement.

''This grass-roots movement coming from the students, that's exactly what this campaign is all about,'' said Rafael Penalver, a local activist and attorney who spoke to the class Wednesday.

Penalver represented the uphill battle of residents who believe the tower should be turned over to the public and made a national landmark.

Ruth Jacobs, educational director of Dade Heritage Trust, joined Penalver with pleas to preserve the tower.

Mazzarella said she tried unsuccessfully to contact Terra Group to address the students so they could hear both sides of the issue.

''Why can't they just build the condo somewhere else?'' asked Jackie Garcia, 13. The simple question summed up the problem.

Mazzarella said she hopes at least some of her students will voice their opinions at the September city meeting when the issue will be heard and voted on. The kids' homework, due Monday, will be to pick one side of the issue and represent that point of view.

Shanmae Lark, 13, showed Penalver and Jacobs her project, a handmade brochure that she compiled from a survey of students.

''They told me it was a wonderful brochure,'' Lark said, beaming.