ALion's Pride
NFMS' Gay Straight Alliance Awareness Newsletter 2019
What is ALion's Pride?
ALion's Pride is a club full of Brave and Courageous Members!
GLSEN: Gay Lesbian Straight Educational Network
PRIDE PANCAKES
We also play board games, team building games and sometimes students bring in their own fun. We've listened to and played guitars, sang Broadway, built our own voting machine for decision making, the creativity is never ending!
Sometimes we have guests. We have had the High School's Peace Project members hang out with us and many times other teachers and para professions stop by to either work with us on a project we are working on. We have made our rainbow pins with our school registrar, made these pancakes with our speech & language pathologist. People just like to be with us!
BRINGING AWARENESS TO NFMS
The club has also held open house during PLC and makes appearances on the morning announcements. Last year the big awareness initiative was the Day of Silence. Please go to GLSEN's website to learn more about that activity. Each school designs their own way. Our students decided to remain silent only when it was most difficult; during lunch, plc and in the hallway and not during instruction time.
FURTHERING AWARENESS & EDUCATING OUR MEMBERS
Some Very Sad Statistics
- LGBT youth are twice as likely as their peers to say they have been physically assaulted
- 4 in 10 LGBT youth say the community in which they live is not accepting of LGBT people
- 92% of LGBT youth say the hear negative messages about being LGBT. The top sources are school, the internet and their peers
- Roughly 73% of LGBT youth say the are more honest about themselves online than in the real world
If you never feel accepted and always feel ostracized you're not going to feel good about yourself most times. LGBTQ+ students may need ALion's Pride. And we are here on Mondays until 4pm. We start the first Monday in October and take it to the second Monday in June. We provide leadership opportunities and LGBTQ education when the group wants to go there.
Fact Check on http://www.hrc.org/youth and to learn more about how we can support students, who feel differently.
ALION'S PRIDE IS A SAFE PLACE FOR OUR LGBT KIDS AND THEIR ALLIES!!
Meet this year's Co-Presidents: Violet and Sedona
Sedona says, "you don't even have to be part of the LGBTQ+ community to join, you can be an ally or join because you feel left out, in which you can make new friends and have lots of fun."
Violet says, "ALion's Pride makes me feel like I belong."
And Member Em says. "Be a member and don't be afraid to show your true colors!"
Our Next Student Led Event Is Coming Up Soon
At the Awareness Open House our five members and advisors will be available to discuss what ALion's Pride is all about. We will talk about our club. We will explain that our club is looking for allies, for students that just want to be supportive to the LGBTQ community. Being in our club does not mean you have to identify as Gay, Bi, Trans or even be Questioning.
You just need to be an ally, someone who understands that being different is hard so you can support that and be there for someone else. The Awareness Open House would be a good time for students to just come and see that it is just a cool club to just be, and do fun things and not worry about the outside world judging you.
We hope some of you consider talking up this Awareness Open House. We will announce the date on the morning announcement, in Google classrooms, on posters in the school and during all lunch waves.
Amy Jacques & Bibi John
Email: jacques.amy@newfairfieldschools.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/newfairfieldschools.org/mrs-jacques-7th-grade-school-counseling-corner/
Location: New Fairfield Middle School, Gillotti Road, New Fairfield, CT, USA
Phone: 203-312-5902
Twitter: @ARCJ89
FYI
Local organization offering counseling for adolescents identifying with the LGBT community, or are questioning:
- The Child and Family Institute of Fairfield County located in Brookfield CT
In an emergency you have 211 and the National Suicide Hotline Call 1-800-273-8255