The Bluewater District School Board (BWDSB) is helping black students share their voice with the first black student forum.
The board held this new forum on April 9, which saw about 75 secondary school students from across the region attend the Grey Highlands Secondary School for the event.
During the forum, award-winning keynote speaker and Founder of the youth leadership organization One Voice One Team Orlando Bowen, spoke about resilience in the effort to achieve personal goals while being faced with obstacles.
Superintendent of Education Keith Lefebvre and Learning Services Administrator Kim Harbinson say the forum is the latest the BWDSB has launched after introducing a Indigenous student forum and a rainbow forum.
“We have a number of students who are racialized, a number of students who are black, identify as black and the number is actually increasing over the last few years especially in the southeastern part of the board in the Dundalk and Flesherton area, as well as in Kincardine and Saugeen Shores,” says Lefebvre.
Lefebvre says the various forums give students the chance to share and talk about their experiences as well as help staff make schools as welcoming and inclusive as possible.
“We sensed there was a need for us to have a forum such as this one,” says Lefebvre. “We have gathered and we will be analyzing some really important student voice, some messages and ideas and thoughts from the students about what we can be doing to make school as positive an experience as possible for them.”
As part of the forum, students broke off into small groups to talk about various topics like dealing with subtle racism and microaggressions, as well as handling racial slurs.
Harbinson says one of the largest take away’s from the forum was for students to set the bar high for themselves and know they can succeed.
“They are responsible for their pathway and their future career, whether that be University or College, into an apprenticeship or the workforce, but they are responsible for that pathway and to advocate for themselves and make sure their voices are heard,” says Harbinson.
Lefebvre says schools in the region can reach out for funding to support and amplify the voices of their various students groups.
He adds they will also be taking the comments from the forum and provide them to Bowen’s team to come back and speak with the students.
He says a report on the success of the student forum will be made to the BWDSB trustees on Tuesday, which will also detail plans moving forward.
“This is all about honouring student voice and putting action to it,” says Lefebvre. “We are feeling very confident that this is something that we want to repeat.”
He says while they do not have a date yet, they plan to hold another black student forum next year.