DEI is a diversion, equity, and inclusion club that was started this school year by two Blind Brook juniors, Ciella Angel-Lalanne and Anna Baker-Butler. This club focuses on promoting our school as a safe space for students to meaningfully discuss sexuality, accessibility, and race-related topics. The club meets after school on Fridays where the students converse and introduce their thoughts on how to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout Blind Brook. DEI has many goals for the upcoming school year. The club plans to host a multicultural awareness week, inviting students to bring in food representing their culture where they will hold a potluck. Furthermore, DEI hopes to invite speakers to our school to speak to the pupils across all grades. The club looks forward to creating a broad guide for the future of DEI and improving it in years to come.
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion club is going to form a partnership with the ADL, or the Anti-Defamation League, to turn Blind Brook into a certified “no place for hate” school. To do so, the DEI club has to plan three separate events that the entire high school will take part in. The occasions must have active learning, engage the student body, be spread out throughout the 2021-2022 school year, involve discussions and reflections on the activities, and finally, address school based matters. The club should answer the question of: how does our bias inhibit inclusivity? In order to partner with the ADL, a committee between parents, students, and teachers needs to be created to review DEI matters.
The Anti-Defamation League is an anti-hate organization that was created in 1913 after a rise in discrimination, antisemitism, and prejudice. ADL fights against hatred in efforts to terminate bigotry and injustice. In schools, the Anti-Defamation League teaches anti-bias, discusses bullying and cyberbullying prevention, and talks about interfaith and intergroup relations. They work to fight any type of inequity in our world and make society a better place overall.
Throughout the year, the DEI club will strive to ameliorate Blind Brook High School and make everyone feel welcomed. This will be done through organizing events, hosting assemblies and speakers, simply discussing issues in the club, and most importantly, partnering with the Anti-Defamation League to free our school of hate in any way, shape, or form.