Aimed as an opportunity for several clubs on campus to collectively promote diversity and acceptance on campus, Diversity Week featured a series of videos shown on WAHS. During Diversity Week, the week of April 12, clubs collaborated with each other and showcased their favorite aspects of their communities to present a deeper insight into the various communities represented on campus.
Senior Rebecca Chiet, co-president of Jewish cultural club Tikkun Olam, along with junior Julia Seifer and Mrs. Behar, organized Diversity Week.
“To truly understand myself and understand my identity, I had to reflect on my diversity as an adopted Asian-American raised in a multi-ethnic Jewish household,” Chiet said. “These various nuances really inspired me to create an event that was able to highlight differing perspectives, practices, and traditions of everyone’s experiences and give a platform for other students to enjoy them too so they can become informed and aware of the diversity that surrounds them.”
Initially, Diversity Week was intended to be held during second semester around the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. However, Chiet desired for the diversity on campus to not just be limited to race, but to also relate to disabilities, gender identification and sexual orientation. Thus, the week was moved to the week of April 12.
After sending school-wide emails and gathering videos from different clubs, including the ASL club, Indigenous People Club and International Club, WAHS aired the videos that shared aspects of their community’s diversity.
“We know Heritage is an open space filled with all kinds of people of different ethnic backgrounds, and we at WAHS really wanted to highlight just how our differences can be celebrated and bring us all together,” WAHS social media manager junior Ian Krockel said.
Videos aired every day except Tuesday with people from clubs across campus featured on this video centered on diversity.
Chiet hopes that this will be an annual event that Tikkun Olam will continue to spearhead. Originally, Diversity Week was intended to be much larger in scale with more opportunities for clubs to collaborate in order to educate others and promote inclusivity. However, due to this year’s circumstances, the original plans of having cross-club meetings and fundraisers, showcase, and guest speaker/student panel were put on hold. She hopes that in upcoming years, Tikkun Olam will be able to execute these ideas and add fun traditions.
