Director of Student Life Royce Wallace announced in an email Nov. 20 that Aequitas would take place Feb. 22 this year. Aequitas, an event hosted by the Social Justice Council that involves student-led workshops and guest speakers, has taken place over a week in previous years.
Kaila Brooks (鈥�24), one of the two Aequitas planners, said they changed the structure of the event due to conflicts with school breaks and because of the success of Human Rights Seminar with workshops that fit into a Wednesday schedule.
鈥淲e knew that the day schedule kind of works, and there are a lot more things that we thought we could do in a day,鈥� Brooks said. 鈥滻t gives us the whole time to ourselves instead of trying to fit things between classes.鈥�
Similarly, Wallace said SJC implemented feedback from last year鈥檚 Aequitas Week and believed the new format would allow for a more convenient flow throughout the day.
Wallace also said the most challenging part of planning Aequitas week is usually 鈥渢rying to not disrupt the school day,鈥� so having one day set aside avoids interference with classes and break times.
Choosing a workshop
Brooks said the Aequitas committee, which consists of seven group members and two leaders 鈥� herself and Olivia Holmberg (鈥�25) 鈥� begins planning in November by sending out workshop leader signups to 鈥済et a sense of where people are in terms of interest.鈥�
Subsequently, Brooks said the committee reaches out to workshop leaders for necessary materials and blurb descriptions that are later sent to the whole High School.
Workshop leader Aris Perrotis (鈥�25) said ongoing global issues inspired him to create a workshop about genocides and neocolonialism around the world.
鈥淚 found that through the classes that I’m taking, I learned a lot about genocides and the legal definitions of genocides,鈥� Perrotis said. 鈥淚’ve just been shocked to see that we’ve done a very poor job preventing it, and I think that this is a topic that is super important for others to know about.鈥�
Meanwhile, Lucy Ilyas (鈥�26) said she and her co-leader chose to present a workshop on nuclear weapons because it allowed them to research a topic of interest that is not covered in their classes.
鈥淚t’s given us an opportunity to talk about something that we find really interesting,鈥� Ilyas said. 鈥淚 don’t think there’s ever going to be a class where we can do research and give a presentation on nuclear ethics otherwise.鈥�
Planning process
Brooks said aside from workshop planning, the committee also needs to arrange a keynote speaker, which the committee begins finding in September since it often takes time to find a speaker available and willing to come to the school.
Moreover, Brooks said SJC is incorporating a simulation period into the schedule this year, which will include a social justice-based challenge paired with other activities such as case studies and learning about current events.
鈥淚 don’t think there’s ever going to be a class where we can do research and give a presentation on nuclear ethics otherwise.鈥�
— Lucy Ilyas (鈥�26)
Perrotis said in order to prepare adequately for Aequitas Day and the complexity of his topic, he and his co-leaders have created a straightforward presentation for their workshop.
鈥淲e have created a slideshow with various information and prepared simulations for students to kind of see what the process is like of convicting someone on genocide,鈥� Perrotis said. 鈥淲e’re trying our best to make it as simple as possible so everyone can understand the difficulties surrounding defining genocide legally.鈥�
Aequitas importance and objectives
Holmberg said the main objective of Aequitas is for students to participate in activities connected to social justice.
鈥淎equitas was founded nine years ago mainly to talk about equity and social justice overall and bring it to the high school community so that everyone can engage in some justice topics,鈥� Holmberg said.
In addition, Holmberg said Aequitas serves as a learning experience even if students aren鈥檛 particularly interested in the topics being presented.
鈥淓ven if you’re not passionate about social justice, just sit there and listen to students, underclassmen, upperclassmen who are sharing with you something they’re passionate about,鈥� Holmberg said. 鈥淭he main goal is that everyone takes away something and learns something new.鈥�
Likewise, Wallace said it’s an 鈥渙pportunity for students to be able to present something that they’re passionate about鈥� and is a way to conduct 鈥渢eaching and learning between students in the community.鈥�
Wallace also said the workshops help students cultivate various skills that benefit all participants.
鈥淚t builds a lot of skills not only for the person presenting but the people in the audience.鈥�
Overall, Perrotis said leading an Aequitas workshop provides students with a good opportunity to practice their presentational and communicative skills.
鈥淚t’s a fantastic opportunity for anyone to practice speaking to people and also learn how to explain problems because it is very difficult to explain a problem well,鈥� Perrotis said. 鈥淵ou need to build context, you need to give evidence, you need to give reasons as to why there’s a problem鈥� if you want to fix something, you must fall in love with a problem and offer a solution.鈥�
Charlie Fennelly, Roman Prosperi and Rahil Punshi contributed to reporting.
