The Arcadia High School (AHS) administration recently hosted Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (EDI) Listening Sessions for students to attend and present their concerns about the school campus and classroom setting. As numerous issues have surfaced since the start of the pandemic, the EDI committee has dedicated listening sessions for students to express their thoughts and bring in solutions for diversity and inclusion.

The student-led organization comprises both students and administrators, collectively improving and working to ensure that students and staff feel safe and welcomed in the AHS community. By hosting listening sessions with the AHS administration, EDI hopes to represent diverse ideas and promote an inclusive environment where every student feels heard and respected.  

Currently, the EDI Student Committee is revising organizational guidelines and working with student leaders to discuss further plans for promoting diversity, inclusion, and cultural awareness on campus. The committee includes a large team, with more than 40 members. 

“This [large team] allows for various, diverse points of views to be presented and considered when we make decisions. There are several specific teams that EDI is divided into, including a communications team, an activities team, and a team devoted to creating organization guidelines,” illuminates junior Bethany Chow and junior Kathy Liu, both student leaders of the organization.

Junior Kate Fletcher, a student member of EDI, discusses her experience on the team, “I joined EDI recently and I was accepted with open arms. I am very grateful that the administration puts aside their time to listen to our concerns and are willing to work with students to solve them.”

The team is still accepting and seeking more devoted individuals to join. You can access their student application through this link. 

Dr. Bhavini Bhakta, one of the AHS assistant principals and a member of the EDI Committee, sent out invitations via email for students to participate and sign up for one of three listening sessions on Jan. 8, Jan. 12, and Jan. 19. The listening sessions took place right after school on Google Meets, where a small group of students collectively brought issues from personal experience and elaborated on their concerns. 

Prior to each session, students received three questions to reflect on. The listening session primarily focused on the students collaborating with other peers in breakout sessions and sharing their responses with Dr. Bhakta and Mr. Jorge Munoz, another AHS assistant principal. 

For every question, students were shuffled into different breakout groups to share and discuss their perspectives on how they define inclusive school culture and how they can propose methods to diversify the campus. 

“For me inclusive school culture means that everyone at school, whether that be an educator, administrators, and students should feel a sense of belonging, contribution, and acceptance at school,” expressed freshman Minnoli Shukla.

When asked about how the administrators could help diversify and create an inclusive culture on campus, junior Ella Tang responded, “It would be great if every single teacher were to understand that students all take more than one class and that we are all humans. While some teachers understand that there are other things in their students’ lives outside of academics, other teachers are rather unaware or unwilling to acknowledge that students aren’t just studying robots.”

Sophomore Shulammite Feng adds, “I really enjoyed the EDI session. I feel like the majority of the time, students’ opinions and thoughts aren’t heard, and having this group discussion was like a breath of fresh air. A lot of students have that ‘I wish teachers…’ or ‘I wish adults….’ moment and this was a great opportunity to let that all off of our chests and finally feel acknowledged as another human being.”

Despite the past dates for the listening sessions, EDI always welcomes students to attend sessions anytime. Though EDI doesn’t have direct dates, you can reach out to their email, [email protected], to arrange a session. 

Since EDI is still a work in progress, the organization encourages past attendees or students to fill out a feedback form regarding either their experiences at the sessions or the organization in general. You can access their feedback form here. 

In coordination with the AHS student body and administration, Arcadia EDI hopes to welcome students to discuss concerns and talk about a start for change and diversity in their community. As an organization striving to foster a safe and welcoming environment, EDI enables students to speak up about untold narratives. 

You can access their website here. 

Graphic courtesy of AHS EDI Committee