Lack of diversity is often a sad case for many students of color here at East. As much as we strive for diversity, with the current demographic being heavily dominated by white people, it seems impossible sometimes to fit in as a student of color.
Our United Heritage Club may be able to help with these feelings of solidarity. Club director, Mr. Kevin Rippe, expands upon this. The club, “[it] brings students and especially students of color together so they feel included”, Mr. Rippe said.
The club helps to bring students together, too. Having first started off as an Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Club, the goal was for these students to share and learn more about each other’s culture. Then, more and more students made an appearance to the club who weren’t Asian American, and the name United Heritage came into existence.
“I thought it was more of a place for our experiences as Asian Americans, but we progressed to United Heritage where people of all backgrounds can experience each other’s cultures, and I think that’s a beautiful thing,” club co-founder and East junior Nancy Tran said.
Tran also hopes for a prolonged future for this club, but as she said, “the demographic here makes it difficult.” And she’s not wrong… As mentioned before, the East High student demographic is mainly white. Though people from all backgrounds are welcome to show up, it’s been more difficult for students of color to share their culture and experiences, and this is the place where they get to do that.
“I think that because our main goal is to have everyone share about each other’s cultures, the more determined they are to learn about each other, it broadens their perspective on their culture and their world,” Tran says. “People need to be educated on their lack of diversity.” Unfortunately, the club has been moving in small steps, according to Rippe. COVID shut a lot of motions down, and there hasn’t been much activity.
To counter this, though, more and more students show up every meeting. This club means a lot to many students of color at East, and it will definitely continue to grow. It looks forward to meeting more members!