During advisory, on Wednesday April 6th, there was a meeting regarding things on Lincoln’s campus that students felt needed to be changed. This meeting was held in the Art Gallery and included students and staff. The principal Mr. Hewitson said that it was brought to his attention by a teacher that had received several student expressed concerns that there was not enough cultural representation on Lincoln’s campus.

After discussion with staff members, all were in agreement that student’s culture should be represented equally on campus.  Mr. Hewitson invited five clubs to this open meeting that he felt represented the diversity of the student body. The Clubs with direct invitations were: Black Student Union, Queer Student Union, Latinos Unidos, Lean In, and Gender Equity.

Students in the meeting all expressed concerns regarding a very Eurocentric learning system. It was expressed that they are not learning where they really came from and that Black and Latino culture were merely skimmed over in class agendas. It was also expressed that teachers should believe in all their students and help them to overcome their struggle in order to make a change and to assist them by pushing them.

The students at the meeting expressed their opinion by asking the question, why should I go above and beyond, if I don’t see my people doing it? Staff members, in response, suggested that students should want to go that extra mile to be successful. Students suggested that they shouldn’t have to go through that extra mile in order to be treated fairly like everybody else.

Ms. Blanca, the truancy officer, believes that “we do have obstacles because we are of color, but even white male and female students have struggles too.” The Assistant Principal, who is African American, said that she pushed her students towards college. She explained to students that “being colored is difficult, but it does not mean you have to quit.”

Another meeting was scheduled on April 20th to continue the discussion, but they rescheduled because, according to Mr. Christian, a teacher present at the meeting, the students were not ready to present to the leadership council and requested additional time.

There is another scheduled meeting set for the presidents of the five clubs to meet with the Leadership Council. The Leadership Council is responsible for how the school decides to spend its money. In this meeting the club presidents will be allowed to put forward formal requests, three ideas that may be converted into requests at this meeting are: curriculum development, a student representative to be appointed to the leadership council, and staff training. This meeting will be held on Wednesday May 18th, at 2:20pm in the Media Center.