Participating in a panel about safe spaces and social justice, students and teachers shared experiences working toward a more inclusive school during an assembly in Gordon Parks Arts Hall on April 10. The event was part of Social Justice Week April 8-12.
After the introductory assembly, students attended one of nearly 30 50-minute workshops followed by a short debrief.
Students particularly liked the opening assembly because of its brevity and variety of content.
Zoe Alphonse, a sophomore, thought that the opening assembly was really beneficial for setting the tone of the event.
“I really liked the opening assembly, and I liked how they gave the student body and teachers who are professionals in their field chances to speak so we were able to hear a lot of opinions,” she said.
Mahi Shah, co-chair of Social Justice Committee, the student organization that runs social justice week, thought the panel was particularly successful.
“I felt like the event went really well,” she said. “I was especially happy with the opening assembly. Our panelists were very thoughtful in their responses and the audience was respectful as well.”
Maurice Neuman, a senior, attended the AI-focused Biased Chatbots workshop. He said the presentation and the discussions he had with the other students made him think in ways he hadn’t before.
“I hadn’t really thought about biases in AI before, because normally when I think of social justice that’s not what I think of,” he said. “It was really interesting to see.”
Zoe said her workshop, called Representation in Films: Social Justice Film Fest, was a success because it informed people about experiences different from their own through an engaging medium.
“I enjoyed seeing the expressions and the laughter, because while we’re talking about serious topics they were expressed in a fun, approachable way.”
Zoe said one of the short films she showed for her workshop, “American Eid,” introduced the Muslim holiday of Eid to a lot of students who weren’t familiar with it before.
