While Alexander Hamilton High School is known to be quite diverse, there are separate magnet schools inside. I’m a part of the Humanities magnet, where the student population is predominantly white, and there are few students of color. So, my peer and I, created a club, Empowerment for Hamilton, where students of color could share their experience of being in a white-dominated space.
When we first created the club, it was difficult gathering a large attendance to show up to our meetings. Most students would’ve rather gone to clubs that didn’t sound like they would be lectured during their lunch. So to fix this, I proposed that we make social media accounts to acquire new members. Through our social media account, I posted our meetings, created specified days when our members could choose the topic, or have free days. As our presence on social media grew, we discovered that reaching out to the students through there was the primary reason as to why an increase in our attendance continued.
During my junior year, one of the major issues students had was that our administration would lock bathrooms through the majority of the morning, and leave a few open throughout the day. This caused much disturbance among the students because there were constant lines to use the restrooms, and we, as the student body, felt as though we were being punished for something we took no part in. This occurrence was a major topic during our meetings, and because all of our members felt so strongly about it, we were able to come together and present our problems and solutions to the principal. I prepared a speech to present to the administration so they could be our voices in admin conferences, I created posters to hang around the school, I emailed the principal personally about our concerns, and I also spearheaded the idea of getting students to sign petitions, with a turnout of over 100 signatures. Slowly but surely, we did see change with an influx in available restrooms throughout the day, and we took this as a major accomplishment.
This entire event left a long last impression on me, not only because we were simply opening up more restrooms, though because it taught me the power of my voice. So, if there was anything I could solve in our world currently, with the findings of my own experience, it would be homelessness. As someone who's grown up in the depths of Los Angeles, I've gotten the chance to witness the raw and intense amounts of homelessness. Especially in the streets of skid row, where there are large communities of homeless people living in tents on the streets. I feel as though a strategy that could be conducted to solve this problem, little by little, would be to create a business where there's a three-step problem to recovering from homelessness. You would begin with gathering homeless people to volunteer for the program, and follow up with placing them in our apartment buildings where they could stay and be protected. There would be a curfew instated and mandatory drug tests because, while going through this first step, they'd be getting clean and working through our company to acquire a job. The second step would be towards, going to college, trade school, or community college, where they could broaden their opportunities with a degree, and we'd assist them with aid and scholarships. The final step of our program would be releasing the individuals from our care, though with the appropriate resources such as a therapist, a mentor, and any other transitional care provider.