EMBRACING INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY PREVENTS ADVERSITY

Inclusion, especially here at Greenway, is a key component to ensuring that each and every student on campus feels seen. We as a community are so diverse in a multitude of ways, and there are quite a few reasons why it is extremely important that we do our best to keep it this way. 

When the majority of students are involved with each other and are including one another in activities, the environment around them gets enriched because of all the different cultures, races, orientations, and other things of that nature. A diverse population ends up strengthening the community and allows the students to connect with each other on a more personal level. Though some may argue that having a varying group of students all intertwined with each other in a school environment is not beneficial, it seems to be a very successful way in getting kids prepared for future situations that may arise.

According to WP Brandstudio’s article “Going deeper with diversity and inclusion” in the Washington Post, it says that 83% of Gen Z want their workplace to be diverse. Whether or not students want to be working with people who may not necessarily come from the same background as them, it looks as if the chances of them having to put beliefs aside and just get the job done are pretty high. This proves that having a good amount of diversity in schools is actually incredibly useful in terms of getting students prepared for real-life circumstances.

Along with cooperation among peers in the workplace, acceptance is another positive outcome of schools being inclusive and diverse in the student body.

“It’s amazing to watch how all students accept each other as part of the Greenway community,” Greenway’s principal Mr. Barnes said. Getting comfortable with people of varied backgrounds is beneficial for everyone because it allows students to become more open and ultimately more respectful of cultures that don’t happen to be their own. 

With this newfound respect for others, long-lasting friendships are able to form. When students give each other a platform to share their stories and experience, they can learn and become more aware of things that weren’t abundantly clear to them prior to listening. “We learn a lot of great things from students and their interactions,” Mr. Barnes said. The interactions being seen by staff and peers all around campus are the ones where students open up to one another and form these strong bonds that reinforce our community here at Greenway High School.

Another situation where diversity in our students is incredibly valuable is when it helps fuel class discussion. A very prominent example of this is the different interpretations of literature kids in a classroom can have. In an English class setting where students need to analyze the works of others, something as small and simple as the place someone was raised in can impact how they view certain events in whatever piece of writing being read. Having a range of cultures in a class contributes to the understanding of a text as well. When students can connect what they read to their own personal life or things that they’ve seen in the past, it clicks better and in turn, benefits them academically.

All in all, inclusion and diversity are essential to building a strong community.