The Problem

My old high school (I just graduated 2008) has extreme problems with diversity. The administration is either blind to it or they just ignore it and hope it goes away. I see it and I am not one to just turn my head to what is going on. We have had race fights and race riots at bus stops, students calling each other racist names, and groups basically segregating. I am biracial and don't really have a place so maybe that is why I wanted to change this. What made me the most angry was that in the girls sports like cheerleading and dance teams there were few if any black girls on the team each year. The ones that made it on, their friends called them "white girls." This made me angry because I had tried out for the dance team with girls who had taken dance for years and none of them would make it on. It made no sense. It was not this way with the guys' sports. I honestly think it's because men coaches do not care about what a person looks like on the outside but how well they play the game. Girls are not the same and it was girls or women who were the coaches. The cheerleaders are all skinny, and yes some need to be small to be flyers, but the base girls do not need to be girls that only weight 120 and are told they are fat. The dance team is all tiny girls too. I have yet to see a black girl on the team and size has nothing to do with dancing I just dont understand it. These teams were causing self esteem issues in a lot of my friends. It was like having supermodels parading around the school, it makes you feel like you have to look a certain way and be a certain way to be "in." The students at that school do a lot of things wrong. They smoke (more than just cigarrettes), they drink a lot, they drink and go to school, they drink at school, they bring guns to school, they gamble in the hallways, they steal from teachers, they steal from organizations, they steal from charity, get in fights on the bus, get in fights in the hallways, get in fights in the classroom, get in fights with the teachers, graffitti the bathrooms, graffitti a hitlist on the bathrooms, smoke marijuana as young as 6 years old, join "gangs," and a ridiculous amount more. I honestly just believe they are bored and they need something to look forward to.

Plan of Action

First I went to talk to my athletic/club director. He helped me a lot. He told me exactly what kind of paperwork I would need to have to present to the Board of Education to get it approved. I had to figure out approximate costs for the group, for the inividuals, where practice would be, who would sponsor the group, tryouts, and all other kinds of paperwork. I did it all. I presented it to the Board a year after I first started and got it approved November 5, 2007. The only draw back was that they wanted the money to be in the account for the sponsor(coach) before we could start. We have worked so hard and so many people have helped and we have only raised $386 so far. It is holding us back and I want it to move forward so bad. I don't want it to have come this far and then stop dead in it's tracks because we do not have the money.

Find a Campaign