Madi Mulick grew up in Seattle, WA and currently attends her public school virtually. She got her first phone in 6th grade for her birthday, ever since that day it has been in her pocket, in her hand, in her bag. The constant connection Madi, and almost every person living today, goes through on a daily basis surprised her when she came to the realization at Alzar School, where she spent 7 weeks straight without her phone. This was not her first awakening, but it was the most impactful. From heading from not having a phone straight to a global pandemic, where she was stuck at home with the only option of social interaction through the screen, Madi has been through a whirlwind.
Madi realized she wanted to do something. To do this, she brought to her school a two-week challenge, called Offline October, where students were asked to voluntarily give up social media for a duration of time and attend a meeting with other students to discuss social media’s presence in their life. The goal was to see how social media impacted students individually and hopefully, make a change in their daily usage.
The challenge the team faced was initially finding a time to begin the project that would work. They eventually found that any day is a good day to get off social media. So the team created flyers for posting to social media to advertise removing it from individual’s phones. Madi worked with her school leadership team, where she holds the position of co-leader of the Community Membership and Sustainability Committee, to reach out to students and gain involvement. Madi and her co-leader partnered with their school Suicide Prevention Team to hold weekly Zoom meetings to discuss a number of things, including the outline, social media’s presence, hopes and goals, and getting to know other students.
Madi and her action team were grateful to know that 76 people signed up and got off of social media.
Overall, the team was proud of the people who participated and the impact of removing oneself from toxic situations. Madi and her team plan on continuing this project two more times throughout the school year in hope of having more people participate. They plan on eventually passing it down to younger classpeople to continue it after they have left the school. Additionally, they also plan on using Madi’s earlier CLP ideas as projects for their school leadership class. These projects include outside clean ups, donation drives, and outdoor art sessions.
Other leadership opportunities for Madi are all around her and she plans on taking every opportunity to strengthen her leadership skills to become proficient in leading in any situation.