BRIDGES’ Work with the Student Equity Council at Great Oaks

BRIDGES’ Work with the Student Equity Council at Great Oaks

As part of my 10-month apprenticeship with Public Allies, a program of BRIDGES for a Just Community, I serve as a Coordinator of Volunteer Programs and Communications. At BRIDGES, our core values center around community, justice, respect, inclusion, collaboration, responsibility, integrity, learning, celebration and sustainability, and as an ally, I observed these values put into practice at a recent Student Equity Council session.

First established by Great Oaks in 2008 as a way for students of different backgrounds to learn respect for others and his or her school, the Student Equity Council institutes teach juniors and seniors equity leadership principles they can implement as student ambassadors and future community leaders. At the first SEC institute of the 2011-2012, academic year hosted by Scarlet Oaks’ Assistant Dean, Craig Williams, I enjoyed the privilege of attending a session with BRIDGES’ Director of Programs, Shawn Jeffers, who facilitates. In a series of activities and discussions, I interacted with an energetic group of high-school students from Diamond Oaks, Scarlet Oaks, Winton Woods, Mount Healthy, Harrison and Taylor High School.

At SEC trainings, students not only learn practical nuts and bolts of community leadership, but they discuss what diversity looks like in terms of accepting and acknowledging different backgrounds of race and ethnicity, neighborhoods, economic class and sexual-orientation. The discussions around pre-conceived notions and stereotypes are candid, but there are conditions for success— community rules of engagement that prepare each participant to remain engaged, behave respectfully but speak their truth, grant amnesty to those who may step out of bounds when speaking their truth, challenging oneself to experience discomfort in new situations, and accept nondisclosure.

Helium Bar and 60 Seconds

During the day, I took the opportunity to lead and participate in activities designed to frame tangible ideas of leadership and self-awareness while incorporating BRIDGES’ core values. For example, “the Helium Bar” activity focused on aspects of collaboration, respect and community, and was acted out by two rows of students who faced each other trying to lower a 20-foot tent pole to the ground in unison. Students soon learned the pole was malleable, therefore, harder to prevent from warping or one end rising higher than the other end. In order to achieve the objective, students needed to collaborate with each other respectfully and figure out what input from the community needed to be implemented. At first, a few students reacted in frustration and blurted attacks instead of instructions, like ‘You’re messing it up!” or “Stop pushing it so much!” Others who were more patient tried a different approach by making suggestions or listening to another student’s vision of how an approach could work. I noticed the students began to calm down and listen to each other’s instructions and even congratulate each other when the beam remained straight as they lowered it to the floor.

Another activity, 60 Seconds, allowed the students to "put themselves in each other’s shoes," and as Jeffers further suggested, “lace them tightly and walk around in them.” For example, when students shared out their immediate one-word reactions to prompts like “poor,” “black women,” and “gay and lesbian,” the responses were seen as funny when it wasn’t that student’s demographic or identity marker. Under the black women category, most words were derogatory as well as stereotypes, and they were stereotypes that you're more likely to see exploited on shows like Maury, i.e.; being loud,physically combative and high-strung, speaking inarticulately, being unwed mothers who are lascivious and lustful, and lifelong welfare recipients. I observed that when students got the chance to read all the sheets, I could tell how painful it was to read what other people put about their demographic, and the African-American girls seemed especially offended, even though many of them were the ones to write the words on the sheet. The offense came after seeing others outside of the identity group laugh and make jokes about the words, or say things to another student such as, "Yeah, I see that all the time; that's definitely how Black women act!" When the group was asked to share thoughts about the exercise, several students shared that they wanted to defend their group and dispel the myth that these stereotypes were normative and all-encompassing of a group's identity.

Implementing Community Agreements At School
After creating a list of community agreements for students to carry out successfully at their prospective schools, the group discussed accountability as leaders. For many of the students, it was more important to be seen as a peer who leads by example, not by policing and admonishing others’ behavior. When asked how they would deescalate violence and bullying, a few students suggested that SEC ambassadors bring calm to both sides by reminding students of the disciplinary consequences of such behavior. They also said they would offer empathy and act as peer counselors to students who fight because they have trouble fitting in, especially if they recognize an opportunity to show they can relate.

The Student Equity Council is just one way BRIDGES teaches organizations how to foster environments of inclusion. For more information about BRIDGES and its programs,visit: www.bridgescincinnati.org.

Author: Mildred C. Fallen