The S.P.I.R.I.T. Club Holds S.P.I.R.I.T Day

Landry Whittaker

Staff Writer 

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The S.P.I.R.I.T. club held a day-long seminar on Tuesday, January 28th for selected students to discuss school-wide problems. “The Department of Justice comes and facilitates honest conversation about what is going well at CV and what our challenges are. The morning session focuses on problem identification and the afternoon session focuses on resolution of issues,” S.P.I.R.I.T. supervisor Mrs. Amy Miller said.

These students were selected based on teacher nomination. “We sent out an online form asking teachers which students showed leadership and had something important to say on these issues,“ Mrs. Miller said.

The students discussed topics ranging from diversity to mental health and created a list of the most pressing issues at CV, topped by stereotyping and slurring. “The biggest problem is probably racism, most of it casual. Sexism and homophobia are also problems,” junior S.P.I.R.I.T. leader Baracka Chanka said.

The second most voted for issue on the list was “lack of response from staff,” however administrators have made efforts to help this problem by holding sensitivity training sessions. 

“I’ve seen improvements and had people tell me they’ve seen improvements due to S.P.I.R.I.T. Club, especially teachers. I think the culture training for the teachers was really good,” senior S.P.I.R.I.T. leader Casper Borowitz said.

The leadership council, consisting of several upperclassmen and looking to add freshmen members, are motivated by their own observations of recurring problems at CV. “CV has a lot problems whether people acknowledge it or not, including racial slurs and transphobia, and I just want CV to be a welcoming place” Borowitz said.

The council convenes on a monthly basis to analyze and come up with solutions to such problems. “I’m on the leadership council, consisting of seven or eight people. We meet at least once a month to discuss any new issues,” Chanka said.

S.P.I.R.I.T. day was an opportunity for the council to bring and persisting issues to light, and spread awareness of their cause to new members. “It’s interesting to have another S.P.I.R.I.T. day to see what issues are still prevalent and what new issues have come up,” Borowitz said.