Speaking with passion, not force; Voices of Equity presents to administration

     On April 30th, Members of the Harford County Voices of Equity club delivered a virtual presentation to administrators and members of head office. Students in the North Harford Voices of Equity club participated along with their advisor, Mr. Michael James.

     The club held two sessions, each with different administrators in attendance. The presentation included two videos made by students about why Voices of Equity is important and the impact of microaggressions, followed by breakout rooms with student leaders sharing their experiences of intolerance. Student leaders also asked administrators different questions about how they could move forward in facilitating a change, and shared statistics from a survey that was given out a week in advance to the administrators.

     Sophomore Andi Fetter feels that “the most difficult part had to be the breakout rooms, it was really hard to share my experiences and just face a lot of things head-on.” Regardless, Fetter was glad to be part of the conversation that will “start the path to making change and building a better environment for all students.”

     The breakout rooms lasted roughly 20 minutes, but most student leaders had a lot to say. “I would change the amount of time we had, with more time allotted I feel that we could really connect more with the staff and try to make a more significant difference,” comments Fetter.

     Administrators were also given the chance to express their feelings and ideas about creating a more equitable environment in their schools, and could respond to the different experiences they were being made aware of. Members of the Voices of Equity club believed their audience was understanding and willing to listen, and were glad most administrators were actively engaged in the conversations.

     “I think it was easy to reach the staff but harder not to sound like we were putting all the blame on them,” comments Junior Courtney Warns. She wanted administrators to acknowledge that there was a problem, and think of ways to take action. Warns believes the presentation was successful in making the necessary connection, noting that the personal stories shared by students  “helped open their eyes a bit.”

     The goal of the presentations was to push principals towards actively searching for advisors and students to start a Voices of Equity at their own schools, and have them attend the Voices of Equity summit held on May 21st.

     Warns believes many students and future advisors will attend the summit because a lot of the principals seemed very invested in the presentation. “I feel like our group can only and will only grow from here,” she states. Warns hopes that the future leaders of the group are just as passionate as the current members, and wants to see real precautions and practices being implemented into schools around Harford County and beyond.