Rocks on the bioswale painted by Middle school students at the Diversity Workshop
By Omi L. and Raina S. (8th grade)
For the past two years, the middle school has participated in workshops to learn about diversity. The day before school starts, the middle school meets at the MUB to learn and do activities about diversity, how people in different places of the world live, and about race, ethnicity, and gender. The leaders of this workshop are Mr. Ward, Ms. Lorna, and Ms. Seekatz. The program began by educating teachers, then the first student class began with a small summer class called SEED. SEED is a national program and stands for Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity. Now the program for middle school students is a full day at the beginning of the year and monthly advisory lessons. Ms. Lorna has really nurtured the program and helped many girls learn about diversity.
During this year’s SEED Workshop, we did many different activities, including watching a Ted Talk, making posters and, painting rocks. The Ted Talk that we watched was about the danger of a single story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Having a single story about something is having a stereotype about it without knowing or thinking of any background information. Afterward, we had discussions in small groups about the Ted Talk. The posters that we made were about ourselves. We wrote about ourselves, what we like to do, and about our families. We also painted rocks with our values. Then, we put them outside in a rock values garden. At the end of the day, we wrote about what we had learned during the workshop.