Recently students learned from Chaz Kellem, Senior Director of Advocacy for Race & Gender Equity at the YWCA, who spoke about disability awareness and advocacy. Chaz sparked conversations among students about the value of reaching out and building relationships with people who have different life experiences than their own. Students also saw an example of cross-cultural collaboration through a performance by Hammerstep, a globally recognized dance collective that fuses Irish river dancing and hip-hop. Hammerstep is a community of performers from various backgrounds who work together to challenge their audience's perceptions on how dance is presented.

For the month of February, programming will highlight the African-American community in Pittsburgh, the country, and the African Diaspora. Students will meet with Dr. Christina Fong, Senior Research Scientist at Carnegie Mellon University Center for Behavioral and Design Research. She will discuss her research on race, perception,  voting trends, and hiring practices.

1Hood will host a workshop on media literacy while teaching students about the power of music as a form of expression and racial disparities in Pittsburgh. Ashley Dotson, Dean of Students, and I developed a lesson plan to accompany the workshop that will focus on the African-American experience in Pittsburgh with a primary focus on the communities of East Liberty, Larimer, and Homewood given their proximity to Ellis. The lesson will conclude with a school-wide debrief of the workshop.

I have worked with students to create various opportunities to continue the conversations after assemblies have passed. Students volunteered and presented workshops at the Summit Against Racism and the MLK Day Celebration at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. They also participated in an East Liberty Oral History Project sponsored by the Urban League Young Professionals.

Currently, a team of students is collaborating with Westinghouse High School to record a monthly podcast series. The first podcast will be recorded on February 28  and will discuss the stereotypes of both schools compared to how they perceive themselves.

Members of Sisterhood are participating in a Public Source multimedia project titled “ I Am a Black Girl And...”  that will collect stories of Black women and girls ages 13-23 throughout the city of Pittsburgh.

Ellis students are representing the School in a regional Student Diversity Leadership Committee meeting on February 25. The goal of the meeting is to organize a dialogue amongst local high schools on the importance of discussing diversity in the classroom.