{"id":8087,"date":"2018-07-23T07:36:58","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T11:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=8087"},"modified":"2018-11-05T16:08:40","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T21:08:40","slug":"student-workshop-promotes-diversity-and-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/student-workshop-promotes-diversity-and-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Student workshop promotes diversity and inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Waiting for the school division\u2019s 12th<\/sup> annual Diversity Ambassadors Workshop to begin July 19, first-time attendees admitted they weren\u2019t sure what to expect, but they certainly demonstrated the right mindset from the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just curious about it. I thought I would try it,\u201d said Max Kallweit, a rising seventh-grader at Great Neck Middle School. \u201cEverybody can be lonely in their life and everybody should have a friend. People should not hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow Great Neck student, Ignacio \u201cNacho\u201d Lopez, a rising eighth-grader who is a native of Spain, added \u201cThere are different people in the world and you have to know everybody else\u2019s world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

New diversity ambassadors for Bayside High School, Mahogany Thomas and Tori McArtis, also came in with an open mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was recommended to attend,\u201d said Thomas, a rising sophomore. \u201cI thought it would be a good opportunity so I just came to see what it was about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just came to learn\u2026to gain knowledge,\u201d said McArtis, a rising senior. \u201cIt seems like, in today\u2019s society, a lot of people are discriminated against still and we just need to find a way to change it \u2013 to problem solve.\u201d<\/p>\n

McArtis already had some thoughts on how to do that at her home school: \u201cJust accept everyone for how they are. Don\u2019t discriminate. Don\u2019t be rude to people. Get to know people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting to know new<\/em> people was the first activity Susan James, chief administrative officer at Tidewater Community College (TCC), had planned for the 152 secondary students and 31 adult advisers gathered in the Boyd Dining Center at Virginia Wesleyan University.<\/p>\n

She asked participants to share their thoughts about a photo of students sitting next to each other in two classrooms with the title: So Close, But Yet, So Far!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t it amazing how we all look at the same situation or picture but we all have different perspectives?\u201d suggested James before offering her own thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s what I think is going on. We have students, similar to you, in different classes. Every day you go to class and you probably sit next to same one or two people you know. Guilty?\u201d<\/p>\n

Workshop participants agreed with James\u2019 assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiversity without inclusion will not work \u2013 so close but yet so far,\u201d said James. \u201cHere\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do. Each table appears to have six to eight people. I need half of you to move to the table to your left. Take your things with you and it starts right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the massive shuffling was complete James asked, \u201cWas that uncomfortable for you to do? Some people are used to the same habits all the time. If you continue with the same habits, you will not get a different outcome. Unless you do something different, you will not enable inclusion. So now I need you to introduce yourself to your new tablemates because you are going to be working with together all day long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Students shared their names, schools, grade levels and a few laughs before James asked for their attention to continue the day\u2019s activities with her TCC colleagues.<\/p>\n

Kyndra Brown, developmental education manager at TCC, explained some rules for \u201cBuilding Your Community,\u201d an activity in which tablemates would work together to design a building of their choice, such as a hospital or school, using the box of supplies on their own tables.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to be identified by your table number,\u201d said Brown. Students also needed to request building permits from her colleague Buffy Ruffin, TCC learning assistance services coordinator, and had to answer questions from adults acting as roaming police officers and other city officials for the activity.<\/p>\n

Students and staff got to work discussing designs and construction plans with no knowledge that the odds were already stacked against them based on their table number.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe privileged group, Table 2, has a lot more supplies. They are not aware,\u201d James disclosed as she watched students work. Table 2 representatives also met less resistance when requesting building permits and when moving about the dining hall to do their work.<\/p>\n

What James shared soon became apparent to those involved in the activity. Sitting within inches of each other at tables marked with either \u201c1\u201d or \u201c2,\u201d students heard each other expressing elation or frustration based on their assigned number.<\/p>\n

Supplies that were meant to construct buildings became tools for protests throughout the room as students at Table 1 realized they were at a disadvantage and as Table 2 representatives realized their peers were being treated differently.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Notecards and Post-it notes were used as signs to call attention to the injustice in their new community. Students and adults at one Table 2 began collecting building permits from other privileged tables to give to a nearby Table 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did it feel to build your community?\u201d Brown asked workshop attendees after the activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe system was stacked against us,\u201d said a Table 1 student.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t giving any opportunity. I was sent to jail three times for just asking a question,\u201d said another Table 1 student.<\/p>\n

\u201cTable 2, why did some of you want to stand up and speak out against it?\u201d asked Brown.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAt first we were enjoying the privilege,\u201d one student shared. \u201cThen I started seeing people going to jail for just talking and I said to my table, \u2018We have to do something. This doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A second Table 2 student added, \u201cWhen you do have the privilege, it\u2019s important to use your privilege to stand up for those who don\u2019t have it as opposed to just taking it all for yourself and not doing anything about the injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown agreed and expressed a critical takeaway for the group, \u201cIf you have the opportunity to say something and you don\u2019t, you perpetuate what\u2019s going on that\u2019s wrong. Everyone in this room has a voice; we want you to use it in a positive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The six-hour workshop continued with activities to allow students to explore diversity, identity, self-awareness, stereotypes and culture.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>We\u2019ll talk about how in some parts of the world they drive on the left-hand side of the street,\u201d James said. \u201cIs that wrong? It\u2019s kind of opening your mind to why it\u2019s important to travel. Because it\u2019s different, doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s wrong. It just means it\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also discussed pre-judging, making assumptions, bullying, being an ally and fostering inclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing an ally takes courage,\u201d James acknowledged. \u201cBe courageous enough to say that\u2019s inappropriate, at a minimum. You have the power to impact change, and others will likely follow you because you were courageous enough to step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a lesson Mary Letson, music teacher at Corporate Landing Middle School (CLMS), has seen students take to heart as a result of the Diversity Ambassadors Workshop.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt empowers the kids,\u201d she said. \u201cThey get to do a lot of thinking and they start looking at situations in our own school where they can make a positive change \u2013 either in different clubs or the way we run things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDiversity is more than skin color, ethnicity,\u201d continued Letson. \u201cIt\u2019s learning differences. It\u2019s are they into sports or fine arts; are they into anime or musical theatre? It takes into consideration all those things because everybody comes from a different past though together they can create a common presence and future for the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her CLMS colleague Caitlin Burt agreed. \u201cIt is opening a platform to understand that it\u2019s okay to be different. It\u2019s okay to embrace your differences and to share them, and that\u2019s not a bad thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we don\u2019t have to change them,\u201d added Letson. \u201cWe can appreciate them for who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

They are lessons that Tallwood High School graduates Marissa Goodall and Robert Tillman say they learned serving as diversity ambassadors at their school and from citywide workshops.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the world is becoming different, we are very different,\u201d said Goodall, \u201cso it\u2019s important that we start at a young age to make sure that we are aware of diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of schooling is to prepare you for the world, not just academically, so this is part of educating people about the world.\u201d said Tillman. \u201cIt\u2019s important to recognize people\u2019s differences and not make assumptions. We all have these preconceived ideas about people and here they really try to make you think and look deeper into a person. They are more than just their skin color or how they seem \u2013 there is more to them. That\u2019s really what stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing former diversity ambassadors like Goodall and Tillman return to volunteer at the annual workshop is one way Dr. LaQuiche Parrott, director of the school division\u2019s office of opportunity and achievement, knows it\u2019s making a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cActivities like this, workshops like this, are just one opportunity,\u201d said Parrott. \u201cThe learning should not stop here of course, but we want to provide that basic knowledge, that basic foundation of what an inclusive community can look like. Then they can go back to their schools and put some of those things in place, even as a student, because I believe our students are the ones who are going to be the change agents that we want to see in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Waiting for the school division\u2019s 12th annual Diversity Ambassadors Workshop to begin July 19, first-time attendees admitted they weren\u2019t sure what to expect, but they certainly demonstrated the right mindset […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":8079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8087"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8095,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8087\/revisions\/8095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}