York promotes positivity in our community

Following the election, Elmhurst and the York community began to notice a deep divide between those who voted Democrat and Republican. In response to this, school officials took action to ensure everyone’s safety. Teachers and administration were on alert, watching for students targeting other students.

Principal DeLuga decided to create a campaign to extinguish the hate throughout York and, instead, spread kindness. To kick off the campaign, DeLuga created the hashtag #KindnessMatters on Twitter, encouraging students to retweet, like and use it.

“I started a similar campaign in my last district, District 214, to promote kindness, where it began as a campaign for support and acceptance for children with Down’s Syndrome,” said DeLuga. “It was a huge success there, and so in the wake of this election, I decided to bring it to York in hopes of using that power to shift the negativity to positivity. It is okay for people to have different opinions, but we have to respect those opinions, no matter how we feel.”

In an attempt to continue spreading the word about the campaign, Student Council and Latina Dreamers decided to make Nov. 18 “Purple Spirit Day”. The color purple is significant because it combines the colors red and blue, the two colors of the Republican and Democratic Parties.

“I think in regards to the most recent fallout we’ve seen within the politics, it was really refreshing to see a day where the idea of unity could bring us together with more strength than the thoughts of inequality or hate could separate us,” said Austin Waterwall, senior. “I think that’s the important thing to understand and what the supporters of #KindnessMatters were really trying to get across to people. It gave me hope that with genuine kindness, people will be good to each other.”

Bouncing off the ideas instilled by Purple Spirit Day, Latina Dreamers member Lessly Diego decided to gather the members of her club and Hispanos Unidos to walk around on Thursday, Nov. 18 holding flags with the slogan “Less Hate, More Love”.

“When I came home on Wednesday, I saw my little brother crying because he was getting hateful comments at school,” said Diego. “So then I made a Facebook chat with the club members to spread the word about my idea for

the flags.”

Latina Dreamers took the campaign even further by holding a forum where they invited all clubs at York to join together.

“As president of Latina Dreamers, we decided to hold the forum to spread peace, love and unity,” said Edith Reynaga, senior. “We came up with ways to respond to the hateful comments and how to overcome them.”

Though people are expressing that we should be making changes, some people believe that just wearing purple may not be enough.

“I think that wearing purple to school can definitely spread the word about love and not hate, but it is going to take much more than one day wearing a purple shirt to make real progress,” said Katie Mitchell, senior.

In understanding that more needs to be done to solve this problem, DeLuga proposed ideas of ways to make change in the community.

“Through random acts of kindness, like holding a door for someone, we can spark a chain reaction,” said DeLuga. “There is no act too small. You never know how someone’s day is going, and the smallest action can turn it around for them.”

Staff Editorial: Let’s continue to unite; it’s more than just wearing purple…

Although the York-hi endorsed Hillary Clinton, we agree upon the fact that our country and our school must unite and treat each other with utmost respect, despite the election’s outcome.

In the York-hi’s last editorial, published on Nov. 7, we endorsed Clinton, touching on the fact that Donald Trump’s behavior throughout the election was continuously inappropriate and offensive to many. On the Wednesday following election day, many students reported seeing similar inappropriate and offensive behaviors throughout our own school.

Some argue these are related.

“Inappropriate behavior is still not tolerated at York,” said Principal DeLuga. “We have been consistent from a disciplinary perspective; no discrimination, rude actions or vile language is acceptable. The deans have been all over that, but mainly in isolated situations. What we need to work on now is the emotional perspective. We need to work on the long term to make sure students understand right from wrong.”

Students have been in agreement with this idea, but believe that it’s something that should have started much sooner, as this is an ongoing problem at York.

“I like the movement, but it needs more support and should have started sooner,” said Megan Nolley, senior. “I think teachers need to take the time to define what is okay and not okay. It is okay to disagree with someone’s opinions but it’s not okay to make uneducated assumptions. It’s never okay to act on those uneducated assumptions. I also think it would help if we limited unorganized discussions about controversial topics. It’s okay to discuss but only in a safe and controlled environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas and won’t feel ganged up on. I think that’s the way most people should handle disputes, especially after the election.”

Even if bringing up the topic in classes may be questionable and could potentially be disruptive, teachers are still finding ways to incorporate the movement into class.

“I question the efficacy of any attempt to enforce kindness, but I definitely think that as a school community and as a staff, we do have a heightened obligation to continue the conversation around kindness with our students — to model and then invite discussion about what that looks like, what that means, and the expectations and standards that we will strive for as a school community,” said Kelly DeLoriea, English teacher. “I think the worst thing we can do is to stop talking about how important it is. It has to be so much more than a one day thing. In my classes, I have begun to include a quotation on my post in the Google Classroom for each day. We don’t explicitly address the quotation in class, but it is there. And I hope that students consider the power of words and actions as we move on to the important business of learning and making connections in our courses.”

Although it may not seem prevalent at the moment, the York community has continued to make efforts to live by the campaign through unspoken acts that keep the movement alive.