By Max Dadswell, Journalism 1 student
Edited by Lynn Dang, Hershey Section Editor
HERSHEY- As Junior Samina Singh gazes at the crowd of students around her, she can’t help but feel different.
The large white population at Hershey High School has recently made minority students like Singh, who is of Indian descent, feel different, she said. How can this be solved? According to a student survey, making changes to the signs that hang on the walls and doors of the school can aid in making every student feel equal.
As reported by www.usnews.com, an American media company that publishes news, Hershey High School has a student population that is about 82% white, leaving students of other ethnic backgrounds, like Singh, in the minority. Singh constantly hears other students making jokes about minority races.
“I feel like I’m not a part of the same team because I’m not white,” Singh said. Singh believes she feels, in a way, separated from the majority of students because of her race.
“[Racial equality] is not as prevalent as it should be [in our school],” Singh stated.
One might ask, how can the school improve racial equality? A student survey reveals that most students agree that changing a particular sign around the school is a viable solution.
The sign referred to is colored like a rainbow with the various symbols for the LGBTQ community and the words “ALL ARE WELCOME” bannered across the top. They are in most hallways.
The survey also reveals that because of the large number of these signs, it is difficult to get from class to class without encountering one.
Singh believes that changing the signs to be more inclusive of minorities would be impactful. “It’d be good for [minority] races because they are people too,” Singh said.
Hoping to celebrate diversity, Singh feels that changing the signs would initially have a small impact, but would eventually have large impact on the school.
Even though the students would mainly be impacted by changes to the signs, Spanish Teacher Barbara Clouser believes that teachers can aid in making the changes more effective.
Clouser claimed that more teachers would possibly be more inclined to hang the signs if they were changed. She also stated that if students asked for the signs to be hung, teachers would be more likely to put the signs on their doors.
“We like to know what the students want,” Clouser said.
