Multicultural Clubs Thrive at San Lorenzo Valley Schools
Students at San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District are running multicultural clubs on elementary, middle and high school campuses, choosing for themselves which cultures, traditions and holidays to study and then finding ways to share what they learn with other students.
Boulder Creek Elementary School’s Multicultural Club
The clubs have taken on Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, Jewish Heritage Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Lunar New Year, Diwali, Mardi Gras, and Día de los Muertos, digging into the food, customs and history behind each one. Members learn through games, posters, and stories brought from their own families. What they find goes back out to classmates through booths, banners, presentations, and schoolwide events.
SLV Middle School’s Multi Cultural Diversity Club explores Día de los Muertos with school staff.
The clubs work alongside the district’s Diversity Equity Inclusion Belonging (DEIB) Committee, with both staff and student leaders guiding the effort. The aim, according to the district, is a school community where students, staff and families feel safe, seen and respected.
One student leader put the goal more plainly: to help “everyone at school feel included and represented.”
Districtwide programming has supported the same work. Last year SLVUSD hosted performances by the Anne Frank Center USA, which brought Anne Frank’s diary and the writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the stage and prompted students to talk about empathy, justice, and standing up to intolerance.
For a lot of members, the clubs have turned into social circles, a place to make friends. Participation has grown substantially.
“Our students are showing us every day what it looks like to lead with curiosity and compassion,” Superintendent Christopher Schiermeyer said. “When young people choose to learn about each other’s cultures, traditions, and histories, they aren’t just gaining knowledge, they are building the kind of community where every student feels they belong. I couldn’t be prouder of the work our students, staff, and families are doing together.”
More information about the schools in the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District: slvusd.org
Featured photo at top of page: San Lorenzo Valley High School students celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Photos contributed by SLVUSD
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