From the group who organized the Lip Dub and Diversity Day last year, comes another day celebrating diversity throughout the school, only on a deeper level this time. With the help of Ridge TV, the Diversity Leadership and Awareness class is putting together a documentary that aims to help Fossil Ridge High School see beyond the stereotypes of everyday life.
Last year, the United in Diversity Campaign, led by the Diversity Leadership and Awareness class, was a huge success. “Diversity Day was incorporated into Advisory to help further the sense of community,” said DLA adviser Mrs. Melissa Vasa. Because of the great feedback they’ve received, they have decided to do it again, but differently this time. “Last year we focused more on bullying and ethnic diversity. This year, it will be more about diverse personalities rather than ethnic background,” she said, “we were approached by the GSA last year and they expressed that there needed to be more awareness in that diverse part of our school’s population, and we’ve included that this year as well.”
The Ridge TV class has offered to help in this campaign by making a 10-12 minute documentary that goes through the lives of each student featured. Ridge TV was responsible for choosing the students that would appear in the film. “We wanted to choose kids that were multi-talented or highlight those that aren’t necessarily noticed. We want the Fossil community see past the labels and that there is more going on that meets the eye,” said adviser Mr. Gallagher. The Ridge TV class has put in a lot of time on this project. Tommy Clarkin was in charge of condensing 12 hours of footage down to 10 minutes. “It was a challenging task, but it’s worth it to learn about other people’s values in the school,” he said. Ridge TV sees itself as a service class and was more than willing to help out DLA. “This year it is more meaningful. It’s looking deeper into each other and seeing that each person is worthy of being treated with dignity,” Gallagher added.
The film will air during Advisory on Friday with class activities that will follow. Make sure to tune in!
Genna Tengwall • Jan 1, 2013 at 5:18 am
First of all I want to say great blog! I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your thoughts prior to writing. I’ve had a tough time clearing my mind in getting my ideas out there. I truly do take pleasure in writing however it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are lost just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or hints? Appreciate it!
Katie Templeton • Nov 7, 2012 at 6:09 pm
It was a really good day and the video was really good too!
Anonymous • Oct 30, 2012 at 9:58 am
I felt like the people in the video were diverse, but there could have been more. We have people with mental disabilities, physical disabilities… I just felt like there could have been a short thing encompassing those people like one single shot of all of them together. Just my personal opinion 🙂 I liked the video, though, it added a personal touch and definitely played on people’s emotions. Good job, guys.
Topanga McBride • Oct 29, 2012 at 2:12 pm
I was so impressed with the video and the rest of the activities in class. Great job guys!
J Bejarano • Oct 28, 2012 at 9:47 pm
This sounds like an amazing project. Kudos to the diversity leadership class, Ridge TV and the instructors for both. So glad this awareness is being fostered at Fossil.