I get to work for the greatest people
I've been having a week of loving my job*. The conference last week, some fabulous group activities, it’s all been pretty celebratory.
Halton is giving out certificates (think an award, but trying not to sound elitist) for students who have been engaged in social justice work over the school year. Really, i would like to nominate all the students i work with. They are all amazing, doing social justice work and making a difference in their school communities. I did manage to pare my list down to 15 students in 8 schools. I'm sharing this list in part to celebrate how fabulous they are (and all the good work groups i work with do) but also to celebrate. At this point, i have no idea who will get the awards, and every one of them deserves to be celebrated.
I often refer to the students as my bosses, they drive the work of the groups, and i always say i get to work with the best people. Among the many things i have learnt this year, i have come to recognize that many of the most organized and efficient people i know are teenagers. I'm glad i have this crew to keep me in line.
No one grade holds the monopoly on compassion or justice, many of the students i work with are grade 11s (which bodes will for next year, but all grades, from nine to twelve are represented by these superstars.
What follows is pretty much i submitted to the people giving the certificates, along with a note about why they should choose all of them.
In the interest of preserving the students' anonymity, the list is without names, if you are one of the students, you will know who you are. Others should just marvel at how much work high school students are getting done outside of their classes.
The Georgetown D.H.S. Queer-Straight Alliance came into being in October of 2008. The founding members were also members of the Social Justice League. The groups activities this year have included creating and delivering a 45 minute training for all GDHS staff addressing issues of homophobia, heterosexism and how to address them, running a Diversity Day, in partnership with the Social Justice League and the Greens, and teaching a workshop at the Halton Inside and Out Conference. In January they applied for and received a $800.00 grant from the Lesbian and Gay Community Appeal and worked with the school librarian to add youth-specific LGBTT2IQQA materials to their library. For Diversity Day the group developed an hour and a half work-shop on homophobia, and sexual stereotyping in media and presented it to four classes. They also organized the opening plenary for the day and every student in the school attended a workshop on hate crimes. These students are planning for next year and are looking forward to increasing the group's membership and activities. These students are collectively the most organized young people i know. They have, largely without teacher support ensured that homophobia and heterosexism are talked about at GDHS and that the school is safer for everyone.
A Student
Has been the student leader both of the QSA and the Diversity Day planning team. Ze has organized all the meetings, sought out teacher support for projects, made all necessary arrangements with the principal. A made the agenda for each meeting, facilitated the group and took minutes. Towards the end of the year, ze consciously worked to pass these roles onto three other students so they can provide leadership next year. Ze is a brilliant teacher and facilitator. I have seen hir lead difficult discussions around homophobia and heterosexism with five different groups of students, ze is always thoughtful and effective. Ze played a key role in the group developing the workshop they have delivered and a leading role in facilitating it. A has done amazing work!
B Student
B is a well spoken advocate on social justice issues. For much of the year, ze has been the only male student in the QSA. Ze has been harassed and bullied by other students because of his involvement, and has always tried to educate those behaving badly. Ze brought to the groups attention concerns about homophobia on television and wrote letters to t.v. networks about their shows, following-up with them over several months to make sure we got a response. Ze has actively participated in all group discussions and in training other students through the workshop the QSA created. B was the only student at GDHS who decided to participate in the Day of Silence, a North America wide day that draws attention to the silencing effects of homophobia. Ze created hir own speaking cards to explain what ze was doing and brought wide attention to the issue. B has convinced teachers to hang positive space posters, represented Halton to the Education Minister Kathleen Wynn on the International Day Against Homophobia and been a constant vocal advocate. B will be taking on a leadership role in the group next year.
C and D Student
These two students are two-thirds of the leadership team who will assume responsibility for leading the QSA next year. The two of them have functioned as assistant leaders for A over the last year. They have chaired the meetings ze has been unable to attend, have called members to remind them of meetings and promoted the group in the school. C helped design an activity for the teacher training the group lead, on hir own time, and contributed materials from home. D created a game that the group has used in its training of other students. They have both show great commitment and a huge willingness to speak-up publicly against injustice. When the group received our grant these two investigated banking options in Georgetown and as the Queer-Straight-Alliance opened a bank account on behalf of the group. It was great to see the two of them explain to the bank staff in clear terms what the group is and what it does. The back teller was surprised, but willing to learn from these two articulate young people. D in particular has shown great compassion to and support for younger members of the group and worked to ensure that every member feels included and has a voice.
E Student
E deserves an award for quiet advocacy and in particular the respectful way ze supports others. Ze has been involved in the group since February. Like many of the others, ze was active in planning diversity day, helped plan and deliver both the training for teachers and the workshop for students, but i really want to nominate hir for hir support of others. E is well know at the school, and popular. Ze has publicly stood-up for others both in the group and in the school at large. When a younger student wanted to attend an equity conference in Toronto, and was told ze could not go on his own, E volunteered, and paid for hir own transportation to go too. E let the other student choose the workshops they went to for the day and stayed with hir, as a good friend. E's quite and constant support and advocacy for others may not something they are aware of, the y probably just thinks of hir as a friend, but it has made a huge difference to other's sense of self and to their social status in the school.
Abbey Pride has been a small initiative this year. The group has struggled to attract members and much of their efforts have gone to creating visibility in the school. The group has ensured that there is a conversation about homophobia in their school and contributed to creating a safer environment for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
F Student
F approached staff in February about resurrecting the group. Ze has been the leader of the group and has worked over the semester to ensure that the student body knows that there is a group, and that there is a safe place to hold these conversations. F has put posters up through the school, and replaced them when they have been torn down. Ze has organized outreach events (such as film and discussion nights), booked the space and ensured that the materials are all there. F was one of four students who came to Toronto to speak with the education minister about GSAs and the kind of supports that need to be in place for LGBTT2IQQA students to be safe. F has continued to do this work with little support from other students.
Nelson PRYDE started in second semester after a student contacted a teacher. The group perceives the school to be quite homophobic. Many of the group members are not out as queer (or are straight) and are fearful of other student's reactions if the general student body was aware they are members of Nelson Pryde. The group so far has focused on creating a safe space for members to talk about sexuality and gender identity and on communicating with teachers about the issue.
G Student
G has been the student leader of the Nelson PRYDE group. ze organizes the meetings, reminds other students, phones them if they are not there and generally is the student who makes this group work. G has spoken to numerous teachers about hir concerns. G drafted a clear letter to teachers detailing hir experiences at Nelson, and asking for their assistance that will be distributed at the next staff meeting. G is a strong support for other group members and helps keep the group focused. G has assisted the group in creating anonymous comment boxes that will be placed in several key locations in the school. The group intends to read submitted comments, respond to them and then publish a regular newsletter to be distributed to students about safety and wellbeing at Nelson.
Milton District's PRYDE group (PRYDE stands for Please Respect Your Diverse Environment) has helped the school have conversations about homophobia and heterosexism. The students organized a Day of Silence event in April that had over 300 students participate in some way. For the first time in these student's experience there have been school wide conversations about this issues and a tangible response from the student body. The group is also working on creating a positive space mural to ensure that there is clear indication that the school should be a positive space for years to come.
H and J Student
H and J have been the consistent core of the Milton PRYDE group. H is almost always first to meetings, and ensures that the room is open and welcoming for others. Both of them connect with other students during the day and make sure that other members know that the group is meeting. Both students have carried their activism into their classes. The PRYDE t-shirts that they created for the Day of Silence began as a class project, meaning that they talked about LGBTT2IQQA issues and why they are important in their communication class. The design is simple and positive, and was chosen by the Halton board to be on the t-shirts for the Halton Inside and Our conference. The two students lead M.D.'s efforts to organize for the Day of Silence. They created teaser posters for two weeks leading up to the event, which they posted in prominent places around the school. They made sure other students knew about the event long before they began tabling to promote participation. The group was concerned that few other students would participate, but after 3 days of tabling (when they tabled in every spare they had) they had almost 160 students participate. H and J advocate for others in the school, and have ensured that the school-wide Tools for Tolerance project includes LGBTT2IQQA issues.
The E.C. Drury GSA is a student group interested in creating safe space for LGBTQ students at E.C. Drury and ending homophobia at their school. This is the largest group that i work with, with over 25 students involved. The group deliberately meets in a public location (the school library) to help promote the group. The group involves students of different sexual orientations, gender identities, ethnic backgrounds and includes both hearing and deaf students. The hearing students have become quite active in ensuring that the deaf students can fully participate, making sure that there is never more than one person speaking at a time, talking to the student and not the interpreter, and learning good etiquette between hearing and deaf people. The group organized a Day of Silence with 178 participants that went very smoothly and was well received by students and staff.
K and L Student
K and L have been the student leaders of this group across the year. The two of them have arraigned meetings with school administration and ensured that the administration is always aware of what is going on. They've been the students who book group meeting space, make sure the school knows about official events, recruit teacher assistance and generally taken care of all the administrative tasks. These two were able to get the school to agree to pay for the groups' t-shirts for the day of silence. The group organized a Day of Silence that included participation from 178 students. These two have balanced running the group with a wide number of other activities that they are involved in - they are truly amazing.
M Student
M student was the driving force behind the GSA’s t-shirts for the day of silence. M did all the research, bough images to the group for approval, costed-out materials and fronted the money to buy the materials. M has been to every group meeting and was a key part of planning the Day of Silence at E.C.
N Student
Win’s the prizes for generosity and family involvement. N spent hir own money to buy pride jewellery for every member of the group which N presented as gifts. N was responsible for creating and arranging the self-defence workshop, recruiting a parent and a sibling to instruct. The workshop was through, instructive and fun.
O Student
O was the only student at Acton that i know of who participated in the Day of Silence. ze made hir own materials, talked to hir teachers ahead of time to make sure they knew what ze was doing and spent a day in silence to honour those who are silenced by homophobia and bullying of all kinds. ze had numerous conversations with hir peers before and after the day promoting the event and drawing attention to the issues.
P Student
P was the student organizer of the Day of Silence at Pearson. While there was not an official school event, P organized students, who wore surgical masks with rainbows painted on them for the day. P created an official event site on facebook that attracted over 300 students and drew attention to the issues. ze helped moderate the discussions on the site and addressed inappropriate comments with compassion and class.
Q Student
Q has been my co-op student since February of this year. Working to support GSAs across Halton has not been a usual co-op! Q has really been present for students during this project and worked with two different groups (one in Georgetown and one at E.C. Drury). ze has provided support and encouragement for students, both on-line and in person. Q helped organize the Halton Inside and Out conference, inviting people to come and set-up tables and displays and gathering donations for the participant's kits. hir communications were always professional and appropriate and both the display area and participant kits were excellent. Q is a clear educator on issues of LGBTT2IQQA inclusion. ze spent the full Day of Silence at E.C. Drury supporting the student participants there and was part of the team delivering anti-homophobia workshops at the Georgetown Diversity Day. Q has advocated on behalf of LGBTT2IQQA people in the schools and beyond.
*Okay, for those of you obsessed with technical accuracy, loving one of my jobs. Currently i have three "jobs" paid by four employers, plus random public speaking/training stuff. Anyway, the GSA work is my main job, the job i put the largest number of hours into (both paid and unpaid), and the job i go off to with the greatest joy everyday.
Halton is giving out certificates (think an award, but trying not to sound elitist) for students who have been engaged in social justice work over the school year. Really, i would like to nominate all the students i work with. They are all amazing, doing social justice work and making a difference in their school communities. I did manage to pare my list down to 15 students in 8 schools. I'm sharing this list in part to celebrate how fabulous they are (and all the good work groups i work with do) but also to celebrate. At this point, i have no idea who will get the awards, and every one of them deserves to be celebrated.
I often refer to the students as my bosses, they drive the work of the groups, and i always say i get to work with the best people. Among the many things i have learnt this year, i have come to recognize that many of the most organized and efficient people i know are teenagers. I'm glad i have this crew to keep me in line.
No one grade holds the monopoly on compassion or justice, many of the students i work with are grade 11s (which bodes will for next year, but all grades, from nine to twelve are represented by these superstars.
What follows is pretty much i submitted to the people giving the certificates, along with a note about why they should choose all of them.
In the interest of preserving the students' anonymity, the list is without names, if you are one of the students, you will know who you are. Others should just marvel at how much work high school students are getting done outside of their classes.
The Georgetown D.H.S. Queer-Straight Alliance came into being in October of 2008. The founding members were also members of the Social Justice League. The groups activities this year have included creating and delivering a 45 minute training for all GDHS staff addressing issues of homophobia, heterosexism and how to address them, running a Diversity Day, in partnership with the Social Justice League and the Greens, and teaching a workshop at the Halton Inside and Out Conference. In January they applied for and received a $800.00 grant from the Lesbian and Gay Community Appeal and worked with the school librarian to add youth-specific LGBTT2IQQA materials to their library. For Diversity Day the group developed an hour and a half work-shop on homophobia, and sexual stereotyping in media and presented it to four classes. They also organized the opening plenary for the day and every student in the school attended a workshop on hate crimes. These students are planning for next year and are looking forward to increasing the group's membership and activities. These students are collectively the most organized young people i know. They have, largely without teacher support ensured that homophobia and heterosexism are talked about at GDHS and that the school is safer for everyone.
A Student
Has been the student leader both of the QSA and the Diversity Day planning team. Ze has organized all the meetings, sought out teacher support for projects, made all necessary arrangements with the principal. A made the agenda for each meeting, facilitated the group and took minutes. Towards the end of the year, ze consciously worked to pass these roles onto three other students so they can provide leadership next year. Ze is a brilliant teacher and facilitator. I have seen hir lead difficult discussions around homophobia and heterosexism with five different groups of students, ze is always thoughtful and effective. Ze played a key role in the group developing the workshop they have delivered and a leading role in facilitating it. A has done amazing work!
B Student
B is a well spoken advocate on social justice issues. For much of the year, ze has been the only male student in the QSA. Ze has been harassed and bullied by other students because of his involvement, and has always tried to educate those behaving badly. Ze brought to the groups attention concerns about homophobia on television and wrote letters to t.v. networks about their shows, following-up with them over several months to make sure we got a response. Ze has actively participated in all group discussions and in training other students through the workshop the QSA created. B was the only student at GDHS who decided to participate in the Day of Silence, a North America wide day that draws attention to the silencing effects of homophobia. Ze created hir own speaking cards to explain what ze was doing and brought wide attention to the issue. B has convinced teachers to hang positive space posters, represented Halton to the Education Minister Kathleen Wynn on the International Day Against Homophobia and been a constant vocal advocate. B will be taking on a leadership role in the group next year.
C and D Student
These two students are two-thirds of the leadership team who will assume responsibility for leading the QSA next year. The two of them have functioned as assistant leaders for A over the last year. They have chaired the meetings ze has been unable to attend, have called members to remind them of meetings and promoted the group in the school. C helped design an activity for the teacher training the group lead, on hir own time, and contributed materials from home. D created a game that the group has used in its training of other students. They have both show great commitment and a huge willingness to speak-up publicly against injustice. When the group received our grant these two investigated banking options in Georgetown and as the Queer-Straight-Alliance opened a bank account on behalf of the group. It was great to see the two of them explain to the bank staff in clear terms what the group is and what it does. The back teller was surprised, but willing to learn from these two articulate young people. D in particular has shown great compassion to and support for younger members of the group and worked to ensure that every member feels included and has a voice.
E Student
E deserves an award for quiet advocacy and in particular the respectful way ze supports others. Ze has been involved in the group since February. Like many of the others, ze was active in planning diversity day, helped plan and deliver both the training for teachers and the workshop for students, but i really want to nominate hir for hir support of others. E is well know at the school, and popular. Ze has publicly stood-up for others both in the group and in the school at large. When a younger student wanted to attend an equity conference in Toronto, and was told ze could not go on his own, E volunteered, and paid for hir own transportation to go too. E let the other student choose the workshops they went to for the day and stayed with hir, as a good friend. E's quite and constant support and advocacy for others may not something they are aware of, the y probably just thinks of hir as a friend, but it has made a huge difference to other's sense of self and to their social status in the school.
Abbey Pride has been a small initiative this year. The group has struggled to attract members and much of their efforts have gone to creating visibility in the school. The group has ensured that there is a conversation about homophobia in their school and contributed to creating a safer environment for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
F Student
F approached staff in February about resurrecting the group. Ze has been the leader of the group and has worked over the semester to ensure that the student body knows that there is a group, and that there is a safe place to hold these conversations. F has put posters up through the school, and replaced them when they have been torn down. Ze has organized outreach events (such as film and discussion nights), booked the space and ensured that the materials are all there. F was one of four students who came to Toronto to speak with the education minister about GSAs and the kind of supports that need to be in place for LGBTT2IQQA students to be safe. F has continued to do this work with little support from other students.
Nelson PRYDE started in second semester after a student contacted a teacher. The group perceives the school to be quite homophobic. Many of the group members are not out as queer (or are straight) and are fearful of other student's reactions if the general student body was aware they are members of Nelson Pryde. The group so far has focused on creating a safe space for members to talk about sexuality and gender identity and on communicating with teachers about the issue.
G Student
G has been the student leader of the Nelson PRYDE group. ze organizes the meetings, reminds other students, phones them if they are not there and generally is the student who makes this group work. G has spoken to numerous teachers about hir concerns. G drafted a clear letter to teachers detailing hir experiences at Nelson, and asking for their assistance that will be distributed at the next staff meeting. G is a strong support for other group members and helps keep the group focused. G has assisted the group in creating anonymous comment boxes that will be placed in several key locations in the school. The group intends to read submitted comments, respond to them and then publish a regular newsletter to be distributed to students about safety and wellbeing at Nelson.
Milton District's PRYDE group (PRYDE stands for Please Respect Your Diverse Environment) has helped the school have conversations about homophobia and heterosexism. The students organized a Day of Silence event in April that had over 300 students participate in some way. For the first time in these student's experience there have been school wide conversations about this issues and a tangible response from the student body. The group is also working on creating a positive space mural to ensure that there is clear indication that the school should be a positive space for years to come.
H and J Student
H and J have been the consistent core of the Milton PRYDE group. H is almost always first to meetings, and ensures that the room is open and welcoming for others. Both of them connect with other students during the day and make sure that other members know that the group is meeting. Both students have carried their activism into their classes. The PRYDE t-shirts that they created for the Day of Silence began as a class project, meaning that they talked about LGBTT2IQQA issues and why they are important in their communication class. The design is simple and positive, and was chosen by the Halton board to be on the t-shirts for the Halton Inside and Our conference. The two students lead M.D.'s efforts to organize for the Day of Silence. They created teaser posters for two weeks leading up to the event, which they posted in prominent places around the school. They made sure other students knew about the event long before they began tabling to promote participation. The group was concerned that few other students would participate, but after 3 days of tabling (when they tabled in every spare they had) they had almost 160 students participate. H and J advocate for others in the school, and have ensured that the school-wide Tools for Tolerance project includes LGBTT2IQQA issues.
The E.C. Drury GSA is a student group interested in creating safe space for LGBTQ students at E.C. Drury and ending homophobia at their school. This is the largest group that i work with, with over 25 students involved. The group deliberately meets in a public location (the school library) to help promote the group. The group involves students of different sexual orientations, gender identities, ethnic backgrounds and includes both hearing and deaf students. The hearing students have become quite active in ensuring that the deaf students can fully participate, making sure that there is never more than one person speaking at a time, talking to the student and not the interpreter, and learning good etiquette between hearing and deaf people. The group organized a Day of Silence with 178 participants that went very smoothly and was well received by students and staff.
K and L Student
K and L have been the student leaders of this group across the year. The two of them have arraigned meetings with school administration and ensured that the administration is always aware of what is going on. They've been the students who book group meeting space, make sure the school knows about official events, recruit teacher assistance and generally taken care of all the administrative tasks. These two were able to get the school to agree to pay for the groups' t-shirts for the day of silence. The group organized a Day of Silence that included participation from 178 students. These two have balanced running the group with a wide number of other activities that they are involved in - they are truly amazing.
M Student
M student was the driving force behind the GSA’s t-shirts for the day of silence. M did all the research, bough images to the group for approval, costed-out materials and fronted the money to buy the materials. M has been to every group meeting and was a key part of planning the Day of Silence at E.C.
N Student
Win’s the prizes for generosity and family involvement. N spent hir own money to buy pride jewellery for every member of the group which N presented as gifts. N was responsible for creating and arranging the self-defence workshop, recruiting a parent and a sibling to instruct. The workshop was through, instructive and fun.
O Student
O was the only student at Acton that i know of who participated in the Day of Silence. ze made hir own materials, talked to hir teachers ahead of time to make sure they knew what ze was doing and spent a day in silence to honour those who are silenced by homophobia and bullying of all kinds. ze had numerous conversations with hir peers before and after the day promoting the event and drawing attention to the issues.
P Student
P was the student organizer of the Day of Silence at Pearson. While there was not an official school event, P organized students, who wore surgical masks with rainbows painted on them for the day. P created an official event site on facebook that attracted over 300 students and drew attention to the issues. ze helped moderate the discussions on the site and addressed inappropriate comments with compassion and class.
Q Student
Q has been my co-op student since February of this year. Working to support GSAs across Halton has not been a usual co-op! Q has really been present for students during this project and worked with two different groups (one in Georgetown and one at E.C. Drury). ze has provided support and encouragement for students, both on-line and in person. Q helped organize the Halton Inside and Out conference, inviting people to come and set-up tables and displays and gathering donations for the participant's kits. hir communications were always professional and appropriate and both the display area and participant kits were excellent. Q is a clear educator on issues of LGBTT2IQQA inclusion. ze spent the full Day of Silence at E.C. Drury supporting the student participants there and was part of the team delivering anti-homophobia workshops at the Georgetown Diversity Day. Q has advocated on behalf of LGBTT2IQQA people in the schools and beyond.
*Okay, for those of you obsessed with technical accuracy, loving one of my jobs. Currently i have three "jobs" paid by four employers, plus random public speaking/training stuff. Anyway, the GSA work is my main job, the job i put the largest number of hours into (both paid and unpaid), and the job i go off to with the greatest joy everyday.