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At AISJ, the Student Council and other related committees are once again reaching out to the student body to address the high school community’s most pressing issues. The StuCo JEDI panel– led by juniors Paula Afeseh Azoh-mbi, Elizabeth Sanga, Fatima Diop, and Jonah Gutmann–is one such group attempting to create lasting change within our school community. This month, I reached out to the leaders of the panel to gain insight into their values, insights and aspirations for the year ahead.
Responses have been slightly edited for clarity and grammar.
Q: The JEDI Panel, like its name, focuses on improving justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion within the AISJ community. As a leader of this panel, what do the JEDI values mean to you?
FD: Out of many interests and passions, the values of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion have not just been something that I enjoy learning about but are principles that I live by. Injustice and inequality are prominent issues in the world and even the community we are in. As a leader of the High School Student Council JEDI group, my main goal would be to be able to identify these inequalities and find solutions to make AISJ a better place, not just by following the values of JEDI but learning to learn and respect what JEDI really means.
PAA: Unfortunately, we live in a world where justice is not a right, it’s a privilege. Upon realizing this, I have always been interested in social justice and how people perceive others based on their race.
JG: The JEDI values are just words. They hold no power. It is the context in which they are applied from which I derive their meaning from. The JEDI values mean striving to make the AISJ community and the world a better place. They mean doing everything it takes to make our community members, the people we affect, feel safer and welcomed. We all have an impact on each other’s lives. The JEDI values mean examining this impact and harnessing it for the betterment of our community.
Q: In the past, the JEDI Panel has struggled with spreading awareness about its roles and responsibilities as a branch of our Student Council. What do you wish more students knew about the panel?
ES: I wish our fellow high school students knew more about JEDI and its actual meaning and purpose. Also, it is a serious panel that is attempting to create a difference within the high school in terms of Justice,Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Another aspect that students should be aware of is that the JEDI panel is a safe and trustworthy atmosphere in which you can express opinions and previous experiences that need to be addressed.
FD: I would love students to know that JEDI is not a Stars Wars fan club! All jokes aside, I wish students knew more about the panel. Knowing that many teenagers are interested in social justice issues that the JEDI panel attempts to tackle, students are always welcome to give suggestions, participate or even join the Panel when applications open.
PAA: We are still growing, we are making an effort to make a change within our community. These things take time– finding others who share the same interests as you and who are willing to put the work and time in to make that change.
Q: Could you outline some of the projects/goals the JEDI panel intends to achieve this year?
JG: One of our projects (that we just finished, actually) is the JEDI suggestion box. It is a place where students can write down all problems related to JEDI. We intend to use this to solve problems directly. We wish to cut out the ‘middle-man’ and go straight to the source.
ES: We’ve been working and talking about a lot of projects this year, but the one I’ll speak about is the JEDI suggestion box. The JEDI suggestion box aims to have students who are comfortable sharing their experiences, issues that can deal with discrimination that haven’t been addressed, and so on. The suggestion box is intended for the JEDI team to look into and see what challenges the highschool is dealing with and what actions to take to ensure that the situation does not occur again. The JEDI suggestion box is also open for students to share their ideas and hopes for future changes in the high school. There will be both a digital (anonymous Google form) and a physical version (a box in the library.)
FD: Apart from our suggestion box, another main project that JEDI is willing to put into place is the modification of the language in the High School Code of Conduct/Handbook. As a JEDI Team, we came to the conclusion that the use of slurs and offensive language is not taken seriously. Implementing “administration-certified” rules in the Handbook can certify that the use of specific derogatory language will not be tolerated at AISJ, and will be sanctionable.
How to reach the panel and contribute as a non-member:
When asked about the ways in which AISJ students could reach out to the JEDI panel, all of the student leaders above responded that the online JEDI Suggestion Box (linked in the QR code on the right) was the primary tool for students to voice their concerns regarding justice, equality, diversity or inclusion; be it reporting behavior of cultural disrespect in a classroom setting, or simply being tired of people repeatedly mispronouncing your name, the panel leaders encouraged all students to reach out to them personally or to the suggestion box as an anonymous submission.
