By Leila Stewart
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, during the week of Jan. 17-20, an Inclusivity Week was established by seniors Meena Vasudevan, Adrian Pilkington and Harinh Lee as a part of their NHS community service project. This was sponsored by Toni Dutton.
“We felt like there was a lack of discussion over diversity at our school and because of that, we used Inclusivity Week to create conversations within the Southwest community,” Vasudevan said.
“Now more than ever, inclusivity is important. Race or sexual orientation aren’t things people are comfortable talking about. Those are conversations we need to have,” said Dutton.
Vasudevan constructed discussions based on topics she felt needed to be addressed.
Each day of Inclusivity Week had a specific focus to help educate students. The first day was ableism and the LGBT community and the second day was zoned in on racism. The third and last day was focused on sexism.
Throughout the week, students and staff were encouraged to engage in conversation about each day’s topic in order to promote inclusivity. Daily informative announcements were made and inclusivity-related posters were hung up around the building.
“We had a lot of our friends who felt very passionate about it help in planning and making posters,” Vasudevan said.
On the last day, an optional informational panel assembly was also held during fourth block in the theater. The panel of speakers included Amy Jewell, a Special Education teacher here at Southwest, Elizabeth Freeman, the Programming Assistant at the Women’s Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (a group that advocates for gender equality), Thomas Christie, an employee at the Malone Center (a center that focuses on strengthening and honoring African Americans) and Robin Bowman from Speak Out, an organization advocating for the LGBT community.
Freshmen Peyton Micek and Baylie Day attended this eye-opening assembly.
“I don’t talk to many people in these groups. It was interesting hearing about these topics. Before, I hardly knew anything,” said Micek.
In regards to the impact that it has left on our school community, “I thought it was empowering. I would like to think there has been change, however we should have these discussions more often for a real change,” said Day.
During the assembly, three main topics were discussed; inclusivity, how to be an ally, and what you can do.
In order to be inclusive, Elizabeth Freeman focused on having an open mindset towards others. She encouraged students to get out of their comfort zone and expose themselves to people and cultures outside of their own community.
“The more educated you are, the more likely you are to be accepting,” said Freeman.
As far as being an ally for all groups of people, Thomas Christie talked about privilege.
“Every individual has their own privileges, whether that’s because of your race or your economic status,” said Christie.
“Instead of seeing this as a negative thing or an insult, it can be seen as a positive, and an amazing opportunity to help others, whether you can relate or not,” he said.
At the end of the Inclusivity assembly, the message was to not see people as their identity, whether that be their gender, sexuality, abilities, race or ethnicity, but to see them as a person.
Amy Jewell said, “Be a friend. That’s all anyone wants.”
As far as whether or not Inclusivity Week will be seen in the future, Vasudevan said, “We’re really hoping some leaders in this school will take on Inclusivity Week because we think it could be a really powerful and annual project.”