Brooklyn Center D&D Club

I recently helped start a D&D Club within Brooklyn Center School District—a low-income, underserved district just north of Minneapolis, MN.

Brooklyn Center High School faces many problems that most urban public schools face, but is just outside of the city district, so it often lacks the resources to address the problems.

Just a few numbers to give you a snapshot of Brooklyn Center School District:
Total enrollment: 2028
White: (16%)
Black: (43%)
Hispanic: (22%)
Asian: (17%)
American Indian: (1%)

Special populations
English learner: (21%)
Free/reduced lunch: (80%)

The school is very diverse, low-income, and underperforming. My friend Robert, a teacher in the High School, and I think D&D can help engage students in the Middle School and High School.

Primarily, we want to give students an opportunity to participate in a meaningful after-school program. For students who are not interested in sports, Brooklyn Center has very little to offer by way of after-school extracurricular programs. We want to provide a space for students to explore themselves and build healthy relationships with each other in an atmosphere that allows their confidence and self-esteem to flourish.

Second, we want to increase Math, Reading, and Science proficiencies by building their school curriculum into Adventurers League modules. This will take time and lots of collaboration with teachers, but we think it is possible once we get the students familiar with how to play D&D.

The idea to start the club was born when Robert saw two students trying to play D&D with rules from YouTube, free dice apps, and pennies as minis. He told them that he could show them how to play properly and put up signs around school to see if others would join.

Initially, we had 15 students verbally committed to join us, but within a few weeks we had 25 students!

Wizards of the Coast has graciously donated about $2,000 worth of books, dice, stickers and starter kits! However, the club still needs money for minis, grids, and gear for live streaming our sessions. Please help!

Thank you!