Equity and Diversity Guest Speaker
Introduction
At the beginning of the 2022/2023 school year, my club, the Cultural Diversity Club, went on a field trip to the Premiere Theaters Oaks 10 to cheer on some special case children from the Candlelighters of Brevard nonprofit organization, which helps children with cancer emotionally and financially. This feat was hard to achieve due to the difficulty of planning a school event over the summer, but the Vice President, Marley Laughlin, and I took much pride in the success that it ended up being. Therefore, I am proud to say that the principal of my high school of Edgewood Jr/Sr High School, Mrs. Ingratta, decided to share the photos from and information about our student-planned field trip on our school's page. Somehow we were lucky enough to pique the interest of the school district's Equity and Diversity Director, who contacted me personally to ask when she could participate in a club meeting!
About Dr. McKinnon
This inspiring woman's name is Dr. McKinnon, and she is the first Equity and Diversity representative of Brevard Public Schools, who hopes to lead the way for many more to come! She earned varying degrees at universities such as Florida State University, Troy University, and Capella University, as well as qualifications relating to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Cornell University and the University of South Florida, all of which the other club members and I learned as she talked us through her journey towards this current career path. But, most of all, we were delighted to hear about her personal love for civic engagement, which is the greatest part of her work as she makes large strides in our county by providing numerous educational opportunities for people of all gender, racial, financial, and health backgrounds.
More Information
For our biggest- and most packed- meeting yet, every member and the teacher sponsor decided that we just had to wear our club shirts (shown in the previous News post) in anticipation of Dr. McKinnon's arrival! We quickly put together a welcome sign on the classroom board and even found that Mrs. Ingratta would also attend this meeting. As you can tell, it was a great success as the members, and I heard her recommendations for getting into the field of Anthropology as well as her opinions on our ideas for future service-learning projects, which must remain a secret for now! This was the first time I had ever spoken face to face with someone in the field about the subject, where she made many points of emphasizing its importance, despite there not yet being a specific major or degree for Equity and Diversity.
Conclusion
As the meeting came to a bittersweet end and everyone said their goodbyes, my club's teacher sponsor, Mrs. Noah, was kind enough to brag on another of Marley and I's projects: our monthly Heritage board. With this being said, for the past two years, she and I have redesigned one of the public bulletin boards in the school cafeteria every month based on what the National Heritage Month is at the time, and Mrs. Noah wanted Dr. McKinnon to see it out of loving pride for our work. So, the club Vice President, our teacher sponsor, the principal, Dr. McKinnon, and I all took a walk through the busy cafeteria at lunch to view our Native American History Month board, which she was gracious enough to give us some advice on even after she was supposed to leave.
I cannot spoil any future nonprofit projects, but I can say that we are all so grateful for her attendance and cannot wait to work with her on our discussed projects in the future!