RealCon: Building Empathy and Understanding, One Conversation at a Time

Recent events in the school regarding cultural tension have prompted students and staff to start a new club dedicated to creating conversations about race with 10th grade students. RealCon is a peer facilitated workshop, “where students are engaged in activities and reflections… to examine and understand people’s different identities and perspectives,” says Mrs. Hickey, who is one of the many teachers who have joined the program. Hickey said that when these differences are overlooked or ignored, discrimination and harassment can surface and become a problem.

Additionally, Mrs. Grindle, one of two teachers representing the club, described how these conversations about race and inequality are hard to have but facilitating the discussions are “crucial in changing the culture” at SHS. Even though not all race related conversations can be monitored and facilitated here, Grindle hopes that the workshop will provide a solid foundation for showing empathy and understanding when speaking about these topics.

Some students have wondered how this new club is different from Allies Not Bystanders, which is a peer facilitated group for ninth graders. While they are similar in the sense that they ask people to reflect, the two clubs have different goals as RealCon is geared toward understanding and embracing differences and perspectives, while Allies Not Bystanders focuses more on preventing bullying and harassment. That being said, ADL’s success has been critical in the foundation of RealCon, because it presents a model for the new club to follow.

“People need opportunities to be more aware, and to learn the importance of empathy,” said Mrs. Hickey. This, coupled with incidents of prejudice which appeared both inside the school and on a larger scale, inspired a group of students from Mrs. Lesniak’s morality class, as well as ANB peer facilitators to join together and form RealCon. Since then, both staff and student turnout has been great. Some have joined because they had past experiences with similar groups like ANB, while others have recognized that this is a topic that they’re passionate about. RealCon has met three times so far for training, as well as two full days this summer that were dedicated to outlining the club’s goals. This speaks to the character of the students at the high school and illuminates a promising future for an accepting environment here at SHS.  Mrs. Grindle again emulated this idea, stating that “just because I am a math department chair doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have a role in this, just like any other teacher or student in the community.”

The other representative for RealCon, Mr. Swett, is “interested to see how [the workshop] works, and how it continues to evolve,” in order to develop a more long term plan for its expansion. Swett wants all teachers to be able to help students understand the importance of having discussions on touchy topics such as racial injustice, so that the community as a whole can prevent insensitive and hateful comments. Together, Mrs. Grindle, Mrs. Hickey, and Mr. Swett are excited about the diverse group that RealCon has formed, and they look forward to continuing to work with the entire school population to improve the climate at SHS.