AWOD is Back in Session
This Huntington High School club is on a mission. Known by the acronym AWOD, A World of Difference is an organization of students and two faculty advisors that works to break the patterns of discrimination and exposes biases.
This year's two-day AWOD training program's main focus examined all types of bullying. The all-day sessions were held in the library as 30 were effectively sequestered in order to concentrate on the tasks at hand.
The first day's program included two "remarkable" speakers said Suzie Biagi, who serves as a club advisor along with Camille DeCanio. Jarrett Stein a former high school assistant principal who is currently the district's director of school safety and alternate educational programs, and a Suffolk Police officer assigned to the Anti-Bias Task Force, made presentations.
One of the activities utilized "graffiti boards" to raise various discussion topics. What does bullying look like? How does bullying feel? Why do bullies bully? What can a person do when they witness bullying? The questions cried out for answers and "the responses were eye opening," said Mrs. Biagi. "All the feelings in the room helped everyone bond even more."
The second day of training was filled with everything from personal artifacts, "Here I Stand" statements and "Cross the Line" questions to homeless shelter training facilitated by two coordinators from the Huntington Interfaith Homeless Initiative.
One of AWOD's missions will be to assist with the Monday night homeless shelter throughout this winter as they have done for the past three years. The training program culminated with role-playing through different discrimination scenarios, as well as "rewinds" – a type of "right way to do it" role play.
AWOD will be meeting throughout the school year. Another training session will be held in March during a five-hour dinner meeting.
"We hope to share our enthusiasm and energy with either the sixth or seventh grades this year, as we have in the past," Mrs. Biagi said. "We know that the sooner children are exposed to these issues, the more empowered they are to make a difference."