Keith Hawkins will be returning to Aliso Niguel to give a speech about the importance of equality and respect among students. With the help of “No Place For Hate,” seniors will be given the opportunity to help guide sophomores into learning more about the school.
The program will occur on a Monday as well as a block day selected by the student. Students who choose to volunteer will receive eight hours of community service that they can then add to their resumes.
Monday would be specifically used as a day to coach the volunteering students on how to facilitate their respective group activities with the block days featuring hours of activities between facilitators and sophomores. The activities all focused around the idea of opening up and encouraging social interaction among the students.
The main target group were the sophomores, as the faculty believed sophomore year to be a time where students struggle the most to find their own place at the school. Each block day, sophomore students visit the small gym after their second period classes and would stay until lunch.
Setting up the week took a sizable amount of effort, as it required the help of ASB and the PTSA to help create the event. Both ASB and the PTSA donated funds to bring in Keith Hawkins, and ASB helped donate equipment for the event. Parent volunteers also joined in the effort of creating the event by helping out after hours.
Planning the event started in November and required moving around multiple parts of the school and many logistics to coordinate. A couple of requirements were setting up equipment, making packets with supplies to hand out to all the students, and correctly structuring the event around the school’s block schedule.
Ms. Hosseini, the assistant principal of Aliso Niguel stated, “I wanted to include as many people as possible…there’s a vested interest. For an event like this, if I have lots of people involved in the preparation, if I have multiple people troubleshooting with me, trying to think through things, that we can take details into consideration, the more minds I have on it then the more opportunities I have to improve the experience for people. I want students involved, I want teachers involved, I want our teachers involved, I want our admin [and] counselors involved. We had a counselor present everyday.”
Students selected for the event were students identified as leaders by the school. Students who fall into the category of leaders were students in ASB, Link Crew, captains on teams, club presidents and students recommended by teachers who showcase leadership qualities without any official title.
No Place For Hate had a prominent role in the Keith Hawkins event as they are a club on campus that are very dedicated to their school’s culture.
The goal for the week of events is to help students feel a sense of community and connection while feeling they are part of something great at Aliso Niguel.
Tristan Espinosa, a sophomore at the event, stated, “I really enjoyed the event as it helped me open up to other students at the school which is something I don’t normally do. It also helped me acknowledge the struggles of other students at the school.
Next Wednesday, ASB is planning an event for students in Wolverine Plus to teach more about the cultural backgrounds of other students.
