Pasadena Citizen - News
Campus programs promote tolerance
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| Sheila King (left) and her friend Aviance Champagne are both from New Orleans and ninth graders at Deer Park High School north campus. |
By KOSAKU NARIOKA
A few minutes before lunch time last Thursday, an announcement came through the speakers at Deer Park High School-North campus.
“Think about that. In the past a village was made up of people of the same race with common ideas about life. Today our global village is very diverse with people of many, many different religions, races, cultures, governments …,” the announcement continued.
It was the message of the day.
Hundreds of students who finished morning classes soon filled the cafeteria where tolerance-themed songs were playing and they sat at tables decorated with different colors and faced with friends and friends-to-be.
Last week, about two and half months after the beginning of the new school year, the high school north campus held the “Mix It Up at Lunch” to give new high school students a chance to meet new friends other than those from the same junior high schools spread across the district, including two campuses in Pasadena.
“This is the program to help them speak to everyone else and know who you have in your school and know stuff about them,” said Sheila King, a ninth grader and one of the students who helped set up the event by decorating tables and passing out wristbands “so that everyone can have a good mix-it-up day.”
Janice Hudson, a counselor at the ninth-grade campus, said the mix-it-up program started nationally about eight years ago as a program that promotes tolerance and that the campus has implemented its own programs for four years. She noted many schools run the programs throughout the year dealing with issues such as bullying and prejudice, but Nov. 13 is the national Mix It Up at Lunch day.
Hudson said some students, because they don’t have anybody to sit with during lunch time, end up going to the library or hanging out somewhere else.
“We have four junior highs coming together to form this one high school, and they are ninth graders, I mean, tough year,” she said.
Hudson said about 34 “helpers” like Sheila helped set up the special lunch time and they were making sure students are mixing up at lunch.
The counselor said besides the lunch, many teachers were doing special activities related to the spirit of the mix-it-up last week. She said math, for instance, doesn’t seem to have much to do with prejudice and tolerance, but people can apply it to financial means and concern.
Also, a social study class was conducting a survey to see if students find any prejudice at school and if they do what it is and how they see it.
“Is it in clothing? Do people all have to wear the same thing? Or have you heard somebody say something or has somebody said something to you because of your race, because of your ethnicity or because of your social background? That type of thing,” Hudson said. “There are a lot of activities going on.”
The counselor said the campus with about 970 students has a good percentage of Asian, Hispanic, White and Black students and this year it has “more diversity than ever.”
According to the results of the Home Language Survey completed by parents of Deer Park school district students show many students at the north campus this year speak languages other than English at home. Although the number of students who speak Spanish is by far the largest — about 140 students — a few students speak other tongues such as Arabic, Cantonese, Korean, Gujarati, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
Numerous papers are hanging on the walls around the cafeteria. Each starts with “I am …”
The counselor said in their English class, the students described themselves on the papers as they see themselves.
“It’s pretty interesting writings out there,” she said.
“Think about that. In the past a village was made up of people of the same race with common ideas about life. Today our global village is very diverse with people of many, many different religions, races, cultures, governments …,” the announcement continued.
It was the message of the day.
Hundreds of students who finished morning classes soon filled the cafeteria where tolerance-themed songs were playing and they sat at tables decorated with different colors and faced with friends and friends-to-be.
Last week, about two and half months after the beginning of the new school year, the high school north campus held the “Mix It Up at Lunch” to give new high school students a chance to meet new friends other than those from the same junior high schools spread across the district, including two campuses in Pasadena.
“This is the program to help them speak to everyone else and know who you have in your school and know stuff about them,” said Sheila King, a ninth grader and one of the students who helped set up the event by decorating tables and passing out wristbands “so that everyone can have a good mix-it-up day.”
Janice Hudson, a counselor at the ninth-grade campus, said the mix-it-up program started nationally about eight years ago as a program that promotes tolerance and that the campus has implemented its own programs for four years. She noted many schools run the programs throughout the year dealing with issues such as bullying and prejudice, but Nov. 13 is the national Mix It Up at Lunch day.
Hudson said some students, because they don’t have anybody to sit with during lunch time, end up going to the library or hanging out somewhere else.
“We have four junior highs coming together to form this one high school, and they are ninth graders, I mean, tough year,” she said.
Hudson said about 34 “helpers” like Sheila helped set up the special lunch time and they were making sure students are mixing up at lunch.
The counselor said besides the lunch, many teachers were doing special activities related to the spirit of the mix-it-up last week. She said math, for instance, doesn’t seem to have much to do with prejudice and tolerance, but people can apply it to financial means and concern.
Also, a social study class was conducting a survey to see if students find any prejudice at school and if they do what it is and how they see it.
“Is it in clothing? Do people all have to wear the same thing? Or have you heard somebody say something or has somebody said something to you because of your race, because of your ethnicity or because of your social background? That type of thing,” Hudson said. “There are a lot of activities going on.”
The counselor said the campus with about 970 students has a good percentage of Asian, Hispanic, White and Black students and this year it has “more diversity than ever.”
According to the results of the Home Language Survey completed by parents of Deer Park school district students show many students at the north campus this year speak languages other than English at home. Although the number of students who speak Spanish is by far the largest — about 140 students — a few students speak other tongues such as Arabic, Cantonese, Korean, Gujarati, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
Numerous papers are hanging on the walls around the cafeteria. Each starts with “I am …”
The counselor said in their English class, the students described themselves on the papers as they see themselves.
“It’s pretty interesting writings out there,” she said.
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