During the week of Jan. 21-24, TIE Club is sponsoring Inclusivity Week, an event where students are made aware of different societal issues determined by the club. 

Each day during lunch, the club has a table where students are encouraged to sign a pledge promising to be inclusive of every student at LSW. Also located on the table are informational pamphlets and different colored ribbons representing different groups, for example green for socioeconomic families and students and red for the LGBTQ community. 

“The goal of the ribbons is to show you support inclusivity,” senior Sam Spethman said. “We want you to tie it around your lanyard so other students can see you accept everyone.”

The members of TIE Club have been planning this event for a couple months and are excited to share their research with the student body.

“We’ve spent a lot of time doing research over the different minority groups,” senior Payton Fallick said. “There was also a lot of time spent making posters and contacting speakers since we’re having a panel on Friday.”

Since this school year is TIE Club’s first at Southwest, many students are unaware of the purpose for the club.

“Last spring, some students approached me wanting to start a club influencing equity similar to a group that they had been in during middle school,” TIE club sponsor Mrs. Melanie Gross said. “They said it feels they have all of this push for equity in middle school, yet in high school there’s not a club that ties everything together.”

Ending the week, there will be a panel of speakers sharing their experiences of inequality on Friday, Jan. 24 at 1:30 p.m. in the auditorium. The speakers were Abbi Swatsworth from OutNebraska, Kathy Kay from League of Human Dignity, and Khenda Mustafa from Nebraska Appleseed.

TIE Club meets the second and fourth Wednesday of every month at 3:15 p.m. in B215 and is open for any student who would like to join.