Unity Week is a part of being an active member of the Fossil Ridge High School community, and every year for one week the focus is on students uniting to create a better, more inclusive school environment. As a student, Unity Day could mean a plethora of things: a meaningful connection to the school, an easy time to ditch, a regular school day, or maybe just a hassle.
One of the key points of Unity Day is to connect students; further, each year, there is a different theme that is decided based on student feedback on how Fossil can improve. This year’s theme was “I’m in, all in.” The theme was designed to show students that they are noticed and that if someone is not at school, they truly are missed. Students were supposed to realize that they matter and that each person at the school has an impact on their peers.
It is a large task for students to take on when leading such a huge and widespread event. The Diversity Leader Awareness class (DLA) lead Ridge TV, STUCO and other volunteers to create a day that is supposed to be impactful for everyone (if not, the majority of people). However, the buy-in is not where leaders want it to be. Freshman student leader Bryce Philliber said, “People need to understand why it’s important to unify.”
Staff and students need to work together to help Unity Day reach its full potential. While debriefing with his students, TV production teacher Brendan Gallagher wonders , “How do we get the teachers to buy in? The teachers know their advisories well enough to know how to get them to participate.” In advisories where teachers joined in on the activities, there was a positive impact. Senior Myca Kirk said, “It was really cool viewing [Mr. Dannahower] as a kid instead of a superior being.”
As a student leader, the training was confusing, and students didn’t necessarily take the activities seriously. Reflecting on leadership training, freshman Parker Bennett said, “I walked out of training knowing what to do, but not how to do it. I felt very underprepared.” One of the key challenges is getting participation from a majority of students. Junior Colby Pipher said, “I don’t think that you can [get buy in] is someone doesn’t want to participate, they’re not going to.”
Advisory teacher Lisa Plank said, “We should do it in the fall. There is so much happening as the year ends, not everyone has time to be invested.” The end of the year is not the most ideal time to hold what could be considered the biggest event of the school year. If, instead of trying to put Unity Day at the end of the year, it was one of the opening events that the school has, the impact has the potential to be greater. If you have ideas or feedback on how to make Unity Day better, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
[socialpoll id=”2350626″]
