A World of Difference Makes Impact at Woodhull School
These teenagers are determined to make “a world of difference” and in their own special way they do just that. A group of 19 Huntington High School students recently worked with hundreds of fifth and sixth graders at Woodhull Intermediate School, discussing topics that ranged from empathy and compassion to acceptance and bullying.
Huntington’s A World of Difference club, which is more commonly known by the acronym AWOD, promotes anti-bias and diversity programs that allow students to better understand the issues of prejudice and bigotry as well as providing a forum for exploring diverse viewpoints.
The teenagers and their faculty advisors worked with Woodhull’s entire fifth grade population along with a pair of sixth grade classes. The sessions in the gymnasium and library featured a packed agenda designed to encourage, teach, explore and evaluate diversity and bullying issues.
“AWOD is a club that celebrates diversity and social issues that affect us all and it teaches safe ways to be the best person we can be for ourselves and our community,” faculty advisor Suzie Biagi said. “The entire curriculum is written and rehearsed by the trainers themselves after the administrative staff meets with the trainers and talks with them about hot topics relevant to this specific group of students.”
The program at Woodhull kicked off with introductions and a brief meditation led by senior
Landary Rivas. “The students relax and practice breathing in unison setting the stage for a thoughful, energizing program,” Mrs. Biagi said. “This year we did graffiti boards with titles: What does respect look like, why do bullies bully, what does it mean to be a friend, what is cyberbullying and how can we combat it safely, texting do’s and don’ts and what actions cause bad reactions? The youngsters had a lot to say.”
The Woodhull students didn’t hold anything back. When asked to describe “what does respect look like,” the youngsters’ responses included: “treat people how you want to be treated; listen to others; be a giver not a taker; be attentive and include everyone.”
When asked why bullies bully, the children responded that “maybe someone is bullying them or they have family problems. Perhaps they need to be in control or don’t know how to deal with their own feelings.”
The cyberbulling and texting do’s and don’ts boards contained comments ranging from “cyberbulling is making fun of someone using technology” to “never say negative comments to others or share them.”
When asked what it means to be a friend, the fifth and sixth graders said such a person is “loyal, honest, always there for you and encourages you to be yourself.”
“We could go on and on; the insights of the students were unbelievable,” said Mrs. Biagi, who works alongside co-faculty advisor Camille DeCanio. “I have never been so proud. The students and the trainers were so brave and honest with their reactions to our workshops.”
Each workshop segment included a “take a walk” activity that saw students responsing to questions about their family, friends and personal feelings by walking from one side of the room to the other.
“As the youngsters courageously crossed the silent room the remaining students showed their love in sign languarge and all realized that we have much more in common than not,” Mrs. Biagi said. “They realized we rarely know everything someone else may be struggling with.”
Role plays were acted out by the AWOD members, too. “This year’s themes included hurtful messages in a group chat; cliques that exclude; keeping a friend’s secrets and bad sportsmanship,” Mrs. Biagi said. “The players acted out the ‘innappropriate’ skit and then the children created a ‘rewind’ after suggesting how they could have been handled it in a better way.”
“The skits are my favorite part,” said senior Kelly Tenbus, who took on a major leadership role at Woodhull. Ms. Tenbus is the AWOD club treasurer and has also been engaged in a credit bearing internship with Mrs. Biagi over the course of the past year.
“Kelly is a force and a go-getter who thoughly enjoys working with children and has a natural affinity for reponding to any situation in an appropriate and cheerful fashion,” Mrs. Biagi said. “She has been participating for four years now and quite frankly, I’m not sure what we will do without her next year. She will be sorely missed. One thing is for sure; Kelly knows that the power of one can make a difference. She certainly has.”
As AWOD winds down its activities for the year, attention has already turned to what he hopes to tackle in 2016/17.