St. Bernard’s Students of Color Affinity Group

 

Mr. Rodriguez founded the group in 2016 with the hopes of providing extra support for self-identified students of color from Grades VI through IX.  Mr. Rodriguez felt it was important to provide a space where students of color were the majority and wanted to promote discussion that encouraged positive development of racial, ethnic, and cultural identity within the various communities to which the students belong.

 

Last year the students of color group met three times at school.  Each meeting started with pizza and was followed by activities and discussions.  They finished the year off with a bowling party, which parents and siblings were invited to attend.  The program was a success last year, and the boys are excited to participate again this year.  Mr. Rodriguez was also pleased to see an eighth grader rise to the occasion last year and become a leader for the younger boys in the group. 

 

Mr. Rodriguez is also extremely grateful to the faculty facilitators, Mr. Benson and Mr. Prosper.  Mr. Benson found the experience last year to be extremely rewarding.  He enjoyed learning about the background of each boy and was impressed that the boys shared their experiences, listened well, and asked each other a lot of questions.  Mr. Benson used personal experiences to help facilitate discussions and tried to help the boys see the bigger picture.  Now when Mr. Benson sees one of the boys from the students of color group in the hallways, they stop to talk.  The boys have expressed gratitude to Mr. Benson for providing a non-academic space to run ideas by him.

 

Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Prosper, Mr. Benson, and all of the members of the students of color affinity group are looking forward to the year ahead.  They hope to meet more often, and everyone especially enjoyed meeting outside of school.  In addition to the bowling party, they would like to meet with an affinity group from a peer school this year.