DIXFIELD – A diverse array of speakers generated a positive “buzz” among 290 Dirigo High School students during Friday’s Educate Tolerance/Diversity Day.
In addition to Maine and New Hampshire, speakers were from Canada, Asia, China, Vietnam, Africa and Latin America. Principal Dan Hart said 60 workshops were conducted by 34 speakers during this second annual event.
“All day long, there were great, heavy vibes and a lot of smiles between the students and teachers, who were all saying, Wow! That was cool!'” Hart said.
Students initiated and ran the day’s events designed to promote cultural and personal diversity and tolerance to help their classmates better understand the world beyond Dixfield.
“Diversity is an important factor in work, race, sexuality, religion, class, politics, lifestyle and age,” Hart said, introducing the event.
The first of two keynote speakers was Donald Coverdale, a black guidance counselor at East Boston High School, a Perfect Turn ski pro at Sunday River Ski Area and minister of the Sunday River Christian Ministry in Newry.
The other keynoter was Chris Littlefield of Seeds of Peace.
“Chris talked about the world, and how connected we are to the world and all the trouble spots in the world,” Hart said.
Know your history’
Coverdale said he used music and dance to teach students about cultural diversity, because “music knows no boundaries.”
“I think the people that have the most fun in life are those that have no boundaries. Most musicians want to expand their music. We want you to expand yourself, open up to new ideas, new possibilities,” Coverdale said.
He related his experiences of growing up in the Bronx, encountering segregation in West Virginia in the 1950s, not being allowed to enter places because of his race and being told by his high school that he wasn’t allowed to go to college.
“Know your history, because if you don’t, you won’t understand why these kinds of assemblies are important,” Coverdale said of Friday’s event.
He said that he improved his life by doing all of the things that he was initially prohibited from doing.
“You are the center of the beginning of this difference of diversity. You can always improve,” Coverdale said.
Dealing with other cultures
In a hallway after the talk, sophomore Justin Packard said that promoting diversity schoolwide and statewide “is just a great idea.”
Packard was wearing a Maine Youth Action Network T-shirt. On the back of his shirt was a quote from the late German artist Kthe Kollwitz, “I am in the world to change the world.”
“I think diversity is a very touchy subject to a lot of people, but assemblies like this get ideas out into the public on how to deal with other nations and cultures,” he said.
Workshop speaker Sage Hayes of Maine Youth Action Network in Portland talked about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, and how they affect students.
She used an exercise in which students stood at different ends of a classroom to indicate whether a new student would be accepted or not accepted by the school’s student body.
In two of her workshops, the majority of the students moved toward the not-accepted end of the spectrum on the gay/lesbian issue. After interacting with each group, Hayes revealed that she is a lesbian. The stunned silence spoke volumes.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Hayes said of the students’ reactions.
Most schools haven’t touched the topic because it’s so controversial, she added.
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