Ethnic Studies celebrated at annual conference

The District’s third annual Ethnic Studies Community Conference was held on April 15 at Segerstrom High School. The event allowed an opportunity to visit and explore different types of cultural history within the diverse community. 

Students, administrators, and educators were invited to participate together and understand the importance of ethnic studies, because it is now classified as being a graduation requirement, beginning with this year’s freshmen. 

In the theater, Brandy Figueroa was one of the few keynote speakers. She is a first generation Latina student from Segerstrom. She finds ways to impact her community in a positive way. Other panel discussions mentioned their experiences with ethnic studies. 

Ms. Reed was one of the teachers who attended the event with a few of her ethnic studies students. Together, they hosted a presentation and showed all the work and projects they do throughout their class experience. 

The ethnic studies classroom is student led and they have many choices when it comes to learning. The presentation went through all of the students’ experience with the class and how it affected their everyday life. 

‘‘I was able to make friends who showed me the excitement in being myself,” sophomore Jacqueline Salinas said. “Ms. Reed being there for all her students and even those who aren’t, providing a safe environment.’’ 

For the closing keynote speaker, Tanya Sangpun Thamkruphat, shared some of her personal poems that she had written. The polynesian dance performed on stage and closed the event. 

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