Starting off the month of February, the UNITY class has organized its first forum of the semester. In a Unity forum, 60-120 students are excused from class and spend the day doing activities in the cafeteria pertaining to stereotypes, shifting perspectives within society, and learning to accept ourselves and others. Moreover, within the forums deep and sincere discussions take place and students share their stories, experiences, and views on social norms.

When asking Unity leaders and seniors at Eleanor Roosevelt high school, Lauren Torres and Amie Nguyen, about how this month’s forum was, Lauren Torres stated, “It was our best forum this year yet. We had a really good crowd who participated and was into the activities. Also, we were so relieved and proud that the new activities we tried out were a success and impacted our audience.” Moreover, Amie Nguyen was confident to share, “We had a great forum this week. We’re glad our audience liked our new activities and skits and I’m confident that we will be implementing these new activities in future forums. Although we had a great forum, we still have some to work on and hope to put out an even greater forum.”

When asking Torres and Nguyen about what the forums and Unity class are hoping to accomplish on campus and within society, Torres stated, “Through forums and campaigns, we are hoping to change to shed light on social stigmas and norms starting with students on campus and leading up to citizens within society. That’s why in forums and campaigns we do activities that focus on stereotypes, social and self-acceptance and social stigmas.” Moreover, when asking Nguyen she states, “We hope to change the perceptions and stigmas in and off this campus. In the Unity class, when we put out forums we put a lot of thought and effort to organize activities that will make our audience think and change perspectives. We hope to impact our audience within forums or just on this campus and hopefully, they will be able to carry it over within society.”

The Unity program had organized another great forum this month and with the help of the Eleanor Roosevelt high school students and staff, may they continue to put out good and empower work to impact the perspectives of those in and off of campus.