Morgan Bugg is only seven-years-old and she is already using her voice to bring about change in the world. The Brentwood, TN first-grader spoke out and created change in the educational app, Freckle.
Freckle is a gamified educational app that is part of Morgan’s first-grade online curriculum. When she earned enough points on the app, she decided to model her avatar after herself. But, to her surprise, the app didn’t offer options that resembled the adorable student.
Morgan’s teacher, Kelley Anne Joyner, immediately noticed her student was upset and pulled her into a separate virtual breakout room. When questioned as to why the tears, Morgan told her teacher that she felt sad and frustrated that she couldn’t find any hairstyles to choose from that looked like her beautiful afro.
When Joyner asked Morgan what she’d like to do, she asked if, “We can ask them to add Black girl hair.”
Encouraged, Morgan went to work drawing different hairstyles, and they sent them to Freckle, explaining why she felt that they would be great additions to the app. She and her teacher submitted the request and drawings to the company.
First, the pair received a generic response, but then, they received the email that they had been waiting for.
“Our product team recently added more hairstyles to the Piggy Store based directly on your feedback,” the email message read. “Thanks again for sharing your insightful comments on how to improve the student experience on Freckle.”
Additionally, Morgan got a special message from Ryan Blackwell, the chief revenue officer of Renaissance, the company that created Freckle.
“It’s your bravery and leadership that fuels us as an organization to drive our mission forward,” he wrote to the first grader. “We are honored to amplify your voice across Freckle to help many girls like yourself and my 2 daughters identify themselves in the content we provide.”
In an email to the Washington Post, Renaissance also said that, “we also added additional wig options, a wheelchair, head-coverings for students who prefer not to show their hair, and the ability for students to select skin colors and hair colors for their characters.”
Morgan saw something that needed to be changed and she spoke up and out to ensure that it happened. We have a feeling that this is the first of many times that we will hear about Morgan using her voice to bring about change!
