U-High students have signed up for the virtual social justice workshops to be held April 21, which will be accompanied by a post-workshop advisory group debriefing session for the first time this year. 

For the debriefing sessions, two advisories will meet together after students finish their workshops. Ninth grade advisories will pair with junior advisories, and sophomore advisories will pair with senior advisories to discuss their workshops.

“This year, we don’t have a social justice week, we only have one day of workshops. On top of that, it’s harder to pay attention to anything over Zoom.” Lea Rebollo Baum, co-head of the Social Justice Committee, said. “The debrief is the committee’s attempt to make sure everyone can still get the most out of their workshops.”

Lea, also a peer leader for a sophomore advisory, mentioned that the community she has seen in the advisory she works with will encourage a productive discussion. Lea explained that she recognizes the challenges of communicating online, but she hopes being with familiar advisory groups will encourage students to share and reflect on their experience.

Sophomore Rory Wildes-Payne has enjoyed past experiences in the Lab’s social justice workshops and is looking forward to discussing the workshops with her advisory.

“I’m not really a fan of group discussions and stuff like that, but I’ve gotten comfortable with my advisory. I guess I like the idea, that we’ll get to process everything together,” Rory said. “We all signed up for our workshops together as an advisory. It’s going to be cool to hear about the workshops they’re in.”

While this year social justice workshops will be virtual, the social justice committee has worked to make the experience as impactful as previous years. 

“Educating ourselves through the workshops is a really powerful school tradition,” Lea said. “With everything that our community has seen in the past year, I hope this will help us grow, and help us heal together.”

Rory is excited about her workshops and feels optimistic that this year’s workshops will be successful.

“I think everything will work fine online,” Rory said. “I’m interested in the workshops I signed up for and I think I’ll get to be in a workshop with some of my friends. Plus, it’s always nice to miss some school doing something interesting.”