In 10th grade, I was introduced to the previous seniors’ abandoned project, which centered around raising awareness about discriminatory behaviors in the RIS community. During our time at RIS, my friends and I had witnessed this exact problem too many times, so I wanted to make a difference before I graduated. Thus, I decided to resurrect it into the Student Advocates for Change (SAFE).

Some of us felt that teachers weren’t always aware of the bullying or discriminatory behavior students faced, so we thought—why not reverse the roles? We decided to inform teachers about the student experience and give them recommendations for how they could improve. We started by gathering different testimonies of what our peers had experienced. We then assembled a presentation, conducted a pilot session with a few teachers, and sent out a faculty survey. Using this information, we hosted our first open session, where 10 teachers showed up! We introduced them to common non-inclusive behaviors we witnessed in our community, why addressing them mattered to us, along with some ways to respond to them. We then organized specific sessions for departments that requested them.

The most difficult part of this project was scheduling and organizing everything on our own, since this was an entirely student-led project and we were all quite busy. We also struggled to reach all teachers; the survey had a low response rate and not every teacher who would benefit from the session was able to attend. The topics we discussed were deeply personal, including some of our own experiences. Overall, the sessions hinged on preparation and consideration of teachers’ preexisting knowledge in order to confidently persuade them to make a positive change in their classrooms.

I was overwhelmed by the amount of support we received from teachers. It solidified why this project was valuable; some peers in our testimonies shared that they didn’t feel comfortable turning to teachers or felt unsure if their concerns would be understood. This session helped shift that perception. Some teachers even got emotional at the testimonies. I am glad that we were able to turn a shared experience amongst so many students into something productive and empower students to speak up for themselves. We were able to make the classroom a safer space for marginalized students, even by a little. I hope this project can reach more teachers and continue as an RIS tradition in the future, even when us seniors have graduated.