LAHS Diversity and Inclusion Creates Positive School Environment

Giovanna Fernandez|October 14, 2020

Pictured here is the official logo for ASB’s Diversity and Inclusion, @lahsdiversityinclusion on Instagram.

The outside world is filled with the chaos of social justice issues and a pandemic ravaging the population. In turn, it has left students to reflect on how to improve in schools.

This summer, Los Altos ASB sprouted another branch of their student government, the first of its kind here. This new group is called “LAHS Diversity and Inclusion” and is primarily active on Instagram as @lahsdiversityinclusion. Releasing their first post on August 28th, they established their mission to promote unity and support the Black Lives Matter movement.

The account has been very active with the start of the new distance learning year. So far, they have prioritized the mental health of students, partnering with the club National Alliance of Mental Illnesses (NAMI) during Suicide Prevention Week.

Continuing their advocacy for mental health, the group had Ms. Lujan, the school’s psychologist, take over the Instagram account for 24 hours. The takeover took place during the weekend of September 11th, the 19th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. Lujan emphasized the unity between Americans during the aftermath of the event. She made the point that the same unity can be achieved if people put their political divisions and prejudices aside.

Junior and committee member Stacey Medina said, “This outreach is important because educating students and creating a positive and inclusive culture is something ASB has been striving for. After the Black Lives Matter movement gained more attention these past few months, it became even more crucial to try to create a better school culture.”

This comfort is especially important in an environment as diverse and vulnerable as high schools are. Now that students are more attentive to school social media, they can prepare for a possibly new environment if we return to campus.

Junior and member Adrian Lopez said, “We’re going to have a lot of future Instagram posts that discuss a wide range of topics such as racial issues and mental health. We also hope to help the community directly and collab with other groups on campus for future projects.”