ALion's Pride
Spring Edition, Newsletter 2 of 2018
This has been nothing short of an AMAZING year for our GSA Club!
ALion's Pride has out done itself! The members have done an incredible job with getting their word out there. Awareness was their #1 goal this year, and they took that seriously! The club's membership is growing, our presence is known, and our voices are being heard. Read on to learn of their 2018 successes.
After fundraising money with the rainbow cart sales and sponsoring a school dance, and with a scholarship from True Colors and assistance from NFMS's Student Council we were able to take any ALion's Pride member, that wanted to go, to the annual True Color's event at UCONN in March. This was an exciting and memorable experience for each of our members. ALion's Pride attended workshops with other LGBTQ+ community minded middle school students from all over the state. They loved seeing and being with so many other people that have their beliefs. We heard, "we don't want to go home!" and "When can we come back?" (and similar comments). Ms. John, Mrs. Jacques and Mrs. Huber LOVED seeing all the happiness and watching them learn. Thank you Mrs. Huber for coming along to be an extra set of eyes! Thank you ALion's Pride parents, True Colors and NFMS for making this all happen, it was a big deal!
Meaningful discussion and self reflection
This year some of the members were brave to explore, as a group, some of their identifiers. We had some great talks about the vocabulary, emotions and the empowerment that comes along with learning who you are and starting to be present and proud with yourself.
Expression
They are really starting to get to know each other, and feeling comfortable enough to share talents. They had a meeting that just turned into guitar playing and singing. Some members really learned new things about each other in the club. It was pretty cool!
Welcoming new members
We are becoming accustom to meeting and welcoming new members. It is exciting to have our membership grow.
DAY OF SILENCE
Beginner's Activism 101
Mrs. Jacques and Ms. John asked co-leaders Adriana and Zoe to take a look at a link from GLSEN and to discuss, with each other, if this is something they would want to bring to the club's attention and possibly spearhead in our school. Soon after we sent the links, Adriana got back to Mrs. Jacques with the agenda for the next meeting and sure enough A Day of Silence was going to be the topic. With the help of GLSEN's curriculum they were able to prepare and learn a little about how to start a Day of Silence. The advisors sent emails with videos and information (from GLSEN) to staff in the building as it was developing, to keep everyone on board. Administration checked in and with a tweak here and a tweak there we were all ready to go. And On April 27th ALion's Pride kicked off the school's first ever organized Day of Silence, on a low key scale and yet it felt powerfully successful to those involved! Ms. John and Mrs. Jacques couldn't be any prouder of how brave these young activists were (and are), they were just so courageous. In three days time they inspired, educated and encouraged 40 other middle school students to participate by wearing unity pins, to show their support. These new participants also chose to remain silent (as best they could) for the day during the most difficult times to be quiet; in the hallway, lunch, PLC, and during any space that was not instruction time, when they would otherwise have been social. The silence symbolized (and supports) all those that feel too scared to speak because they are afraid to be ridiculed because they are different. They were silent for those that are discriminated against, marginalized and who feel dismissed and invisible because speaking out and being seen is so scary. It was a great day of awareness and a positive start for beginner's activism.
It started with a broadcast to announce and educate
ALion's Pride members went on the school's morning broadcast to explain the Day of Silence and it's significance. They informed how other's could join in the movement by getting a unity pin and having a discussion about humanity and kindness with Mrs. Jacques or Ms. John before committing to the movement.
Going, going, gone!
This bowl was full to the brim, almost over flowing! Yet between 7:50am the buses let the kids into the school and until 11:30am they were GONE! We gave away over 50 unity pins. Some students didn't participate in the silence but wanted to show their support by wearing the pin.
Lobby Shot of our Activists
This is a large sample of the number of students YOUR kids recruited to participate in a human rights effort. You really should be proud. It was a great day! It has been a great year!
What is coming up?
- April 30th meeting Canceled
- This year's group started a "Pride Book" that is packed with photos, statements, drawings, etc from events, activities and fun things that happened in our club this year. The plan is to leave it behind, and hopefully each year the club members start a new one to document that year and continue with the tradition so we can have a library of memories. We will be finishing up 2017-2018's book in these last six meetings
Co Advisors: Amy Jacques and Bibi John
Creating safe spaces for our kids.
Email: jacques.amy@newfairfieldschools.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/newfairfieldschools.org/mrs-jacques-7th-grade-school-counseling-corner/
Location: New Fairfield, CT, USA
Phone: 203.312.5902
Twitter: @ARCJ1989