A collaboration between Lake Michigan College English and sociology professors at the Allegan County Area Technical and Education Center recently gave their Early College Allegan County (ECAC) students an opportunity to learn firsthand about restorative justice, a practice that emphasizes healing over punishment.
The interdisciplinary project brings together students from Patti Youngs’ English 102 composition classes and Myrna McNitt’s sociology course to explore social issues through writing and discussion. It culminated in March with a panel featuring two people impacted by the criminal justice system.
Youngs, who teaches first-year writing courses for the early college program, says the goal is to help students develop critical thinking skills by engaging with diverse perspectives.
“I want my students to walk away with a better understanding of how we can have conversations with people who might be different than we are,” Youngs says. “Can they think critically? Can they write critically? Are they skilled in research? Can they build commonality with others?”
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Allegan Area ESALake Michigan College professors teamed up with the Allegan Tech Center to present a program on restorative justice.
The idea for the panel came from McNitt, who teaches second-year students in the Early College program, and has a background in restorative practices. The two educators began collaborating last semester, with their students meeting for discussions on topics such as bullying, substance abuse, and inequality.
McNitt says she and William Brown, superintendent of
Allegan Area Educational Service Agency (Allegan Area ESA), share a belief in the leadership potential of young people. Both have been involved in conferences focused on restorative justice, which emphasizes repairing harm and reintegrating individuals into their communities.
“We want to teach students the skills of building restorative communities,” McNitt says. “The goal is to exchange information so that we understand how to create healing communities and interrupt the structural inequalities that keep people trapped in cycles of incarceration.”
Real-life experiences
The panel brought that mission to life. Students heard from two formerly incarcerated men, Joe and Richard, who served 25 and 30 years, respectively, before being paroled in December. Both are now enrolled at Hope College through the Hope-Western Theological Seminary Prison Education Program and are expected to graduate in May.
McNitt first met Joe and Richard while teaching a social work course inside a Muskegon prison as part of Hope’s program. She says the men’s stories offer students a powerful example of resilience and transformation.
“For some of our students who come from challenging backgrounds, seeing people who’ve turned their lives around and are now earning college degrees can be incredibly motivating,” McNitt says.
Joining them on the panel was Emmitt Short, a program director from the Michigan Department of Corrections who works with incarcerated individuals seeking access to higher education.
The fourth panelist was Cathy Anthofer-Fialon, executive director of
Mediation Services for Allegan, Barry and Ottawa counties. She implements restorative justice practices in local courts, schools, and family services, focusing on youth struggling with truancy or bullying.
“This is about bridging the classroom and the community,” McNitt says. “We want our students to see themselves not only as learners but as leaders.”
Currently, more than 400 applicants are vying for 25 openings in the Hope program’s next cohort.
“Widens the lens"
The instructors hope the experience broadens students’ career aspirations as well.
“If they’re thinking about health sciences, psychology, social work or criminal justice, this introduces them to restorative approaches,” McNitt says. “It also invites them to consider becoming a teacher or police officer working with special populations. It widens the lens.”
Many of McNitt’s current sociology students were once in Youngs’ composition classes. Both instructors say that co-teaching even informally has enhanced the learning environment.
“This is the first year where we’ve done some team teaching,” McNitt says. “We’re being more focused and mindful in how we prepare students for learning together while still maintaining the integrity of our own curricula.”
Youngs agrees.
“We’re helping students learn life skills, like how to disagree respectfully and engage in civil discourse,” she says. “These are foundational tools they’ll need not just in college, but in the workplace and the communities they’ll someday serve.”
To reinforce these concepts, Youngs asked her students to complete a reflection form after the panel, evaluating what they learned and how the experience might shape their thinking. Some students will present their work later this semester to the Allegan Area ESA school board.
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Allegan Area ESAEmmitt Short, a program director from the Michigan Department of Corrections, speaks to students.
“These are accelerated students already getting a taste of what college is like,” Youngs says. “They’re developing skills that will help them thrive in diverse settings, whether that’s in their next class or their future careers.”
McNitt says that for students based at Allegan Tech, this event mirrors what their peers might experience weekly on a main college campus.
“It normalizes the college experience,” she says. “We want students to feel like the world is bigger than just getting on the bus and going home. We want them to engage with the world and see their own capacity to contribute to it.”
Youngs sees one more key outcome of the panel: building empathy.
“If students come away with a better understanding of someone else’s experience if they learn how to listen, how to be heard, and how to forgive, then we’ve achieved something powerful,” she says.
Photos courtesy of Allegan Area ESA