The WE-SIDE committee organized an event after a long hiatus. As the previous supervisor for WE-SIDE Brittney Bolkovac transferred to another district, there were little events or activities set up by the committee.
WE-SIDE held a workshop on Wednesday Dec. 13 and all students and staff were welcome. The group invited Coordinator of Culture, Inclusion, and Scholar Development at Lincoln High Peter Ferguson to speak and lead the workshop.
Being a close friend of Bolkovac, Furguson has worked with Westside in the past. Westside reached out to him again this year to work with the committee.
Students completed several group activities dealing with topics of identity, culture, race and acceptance. The workshop’s goal was to inspire students to promote inclusion in the educational environment.
Senior Rome Joynoosaeng enjoyed their experience at the workshop.
“It was pretty cool because I got to talk to another person about my background and what makes me me,” Joynoosaeng said. “It was cool to hear other people [talk] about their personality traits, their character and their roles in life.”
This year, Tiffany Engelsmith and Trever Reeh are the newest supervisors of WE-SIDE. Engelsmith previously worked at a club called “Youth Against Racism” at Stella Middle Charter Academy.
“I hope that we can bring more speakers and have more activities,” Engelsmith said. “A lot of schools have a Black History Month event, but if we are able to sprinkle those events throughout the whole year, our community is going to be more [inclusive].”
WE-side plans to continue activities, events and workshops like this in the future.
“If we are able to build a better understanding of each other, we can grow,” Engelsmith said. “That’s really hard to do if we are not talking. It just starts with those courageous conversations.”
