Features Upstander of the Issue Meet Chardonnay Beaver. By Quinn Sullivan
Seattle’s Fight for Ethnic Studies
How the community is combatting Eurocentric courses. By Sydney Santos
What is BPS? BPS initially started with us in middle school and we were noticing in the Central District just some friends who we’ve grown up with in elementary school either join gangs, or get into drugs, or alcohol, and stray away from school and their academic path for success. And it really scared us. So we want to encourage that no matter what life you live, say “no” to drugs because there’s always alternatives and if you need a voice or if you feel like you’re voice isn’t heard, we are here. What we have been doing this year is working on how to get that message out there. We aren’t trying to preach “don’t do drugs, don’t drink,” but instead “this percentage of students don’t do drugs, join the party.” What other big things are you focused on right now? Mediating with students is something that I’m really trying to work on this year and actually get going here at Garfield, whether that’s teacher-student mediation or student-student mediation. What that looks like is me just sitting down with the student and talking about the conflict. A lot of these issues are about unintentional or irrational reactions so my goal is to come in as a leader and just as a peer. So come in and, you know, “What I hear you saying is this. Can you explain it to that person so they get a clearer view?” Fixing misinterpretations so that they leave the meeting feeling good. Where does your passion and motivation come from? It’s a series of things, but my dad has always taught me that there is value in people and so when you go out of what you think is your path, you realize that as you interact with others, they are pushing you even further to where you want to go. The more interactions that I have, the bigger I can build the community. Community has always been important to me and I think that just starts within my family. It’s important to me that I build a community because my family started here and just knowing where I belong, but also making sure that others feel like they belong, whether I agree with your beliefs or I don’t, I am still going to honor your position within the community because it’s valuable. It’s like we all carry a brick and the more we piece our bricks together we can make a wall. What outlook do you have around the future of Garfield and the community? The more people are able to look at the positive, the better their scope is of the school. If we just focus on the positivity and the energy of each other and we know how to act off of that, there are so many things we can do. If you are interested in talking more with Chardonnay about her work, feel free to stop by the Activity Center during 2nd period/email her at chardonnaydbeaver2001@gmail.com.
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The Garfield Messenger 04/07/2017
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What leadership roles do you hold in this school? I am sophomore class president. Other programs that involve my leadership are Bulldog Prevention Squad (BPS). I actually started this with a group of my close friends in middle school and so we decided to continue our legacy and bring it to Garfield.
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An Upstander is someone who acts to make positive change. Sophomore Chardonnay Beaver is an active leader at Garfield and involved in her own programs to make a difference. Here is what Chardonnay has to say and a few among many reasons that she is an Upstander:
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Photo by Freya Wiedemann
A diverse group of students, teachers, and parents attended the Seattle Public School board meeting on March 15th to advocate for a district-wide integration of non-Eurocentric curriculums, particularly in history departments. These curriculums, better known as ethnic studies, aim to provide an education of world history from the viewpoint of cultures outside of the Western influence and allow students of color to learn more about their own ethnic backgrounds, both in America and overseas. The push for ethnic studies demands both a change in existing classes, as well as a whole new course covering the topic. This push recognizes that white students may take for granted the knowledge correlated with the disproportionate prominence of caucasian history in modern education; Senior Bailey Adams, president of the Black Student Union (BSU) at Garfield, explained that many minority communities haven’t been given the same education about their ancestors as their white counterparts. She said that “People [of color] really want to learn...how [ethnic groups] impacted America on a greater scale...not just black and white, but a bunch of other cultures too.” Even though organizations like the Seattle/ K i n g County National Association for the A d v a n c e m e n t of Colored People (NAACP), have advocated for the integration of more ethnic perspectives into our education, the push for ethnic studies courses gained attention in January at Garfield’s MLK Holiday celebration. Rep- resentatives from the Seattle/King County NAACP told an audience that they had proposed a resolution for making ethnic studies a required part of public school curriculum over a three-year span. This resolution also aimed to make bigger changes in public education, outside of history classes: to combat institutionalized racism and the realities of white supremacy inside all curriculums.The NAACP chapter had given this resolution to Seattle’s school district, from whom no immediate response was given. The March 15th board meeting was used as a way to advocate for the NAACP’s January resolution. Testimonies spoken by members of the crowd, especially those from students of color, were influential enough that the district’s Board of Directors unanimously expressed their favor of incorporating ethnic studies courses. As of April 1st, they have yet to formulate an official response. If the district agrees to follow the NAACP’s resolution, supporters hope that the ethnic studies courses will become an integral part of many students’ educations. Adams detailed this ideal: “It would be a whole new class, and...you get a history credit for it…it’s not an elective, with teachers trained around it.” The Seattle/King County NAACP and the rest of the ethnic studies movement needs as much support as possible to show SPS that students and families want this change. Visit their website (www.seattlekingcountynaacp.org) or scan this barcode with a QR code scanner app on your smartphone to sign their online petition for getting SPS to adopt the NAACP’s resolution.