Tallahassee Community College hosted Diversity Week at the school. The Student Leadership Involvement and Civic Engagement Office held events every day of the week to get students involved. SLICE students put together a display in the Student Union Lounge that was all about diversity.
One display included a Disability Board that showed different types of disabilities, programs for students with disabilities and ways to spread the word. Peer Leader for the SLICE Office Angela Fountain was in charge of the disability section of Diversity Week and helped to make the Disability Board in the Student Union.
SLICE Peer Leader Angela Fountain places information about disabilities on the board in preparation for Diversity Week. Fountain was in charge of the disability section for the week. “I thought it’d be really cool to let people know” Fountain said.
Students Watched “Different is the New Normal” in the student union Lounge on Monday, Oct. 23, kicking off Diversity Week organized by the SLICE office. Susannah Poole, a second-year business major at the event, said afterwards, “That was so moving, I love when we do stuff like this, it’s refreshing to see people being nice in today’s America.”
Tuesday was a day for students to meet with students and representatives from the Student Leadership Involvement and Civic Engagement Office in SLICE Connect Tuesday.
Wednesday’s event was a poetry reading and discussion in the Student Union Lounge.
The attendees filled out “I am From” poetry templates that gave them descriptions for words they could use, such as “an everyday item in your home”, to complete the poem. Students then got to share their newly written poems with the rest of the group.
Students individually read the poem “The Crayon Box That Talked” by Shane Deralf. Student AnnaMarie Fountain, from the SLICE Office, asked students in attendance what they thought of the poem. One student, Ben Leeper, thought the poem was heavy-handed, not leaving, much to the imagination. “It wasn’t bad it just gets the point across” Leeper said.
While attendance was small the SLICE office representatives were excited that there was a higher number of students than last year’s poetry reading.
SLICE student AnnaMarie Fountain passes out “I am From” Poetry Templates to students attending the poetry reading. Attendees got to share their poems as well as have a group discussion on the poem “The Crayon Box That Talked” by Shane DeRalf.
The American Sign Language society put on a two-hour lesson on the basics of sign language in the Student Union Lounge on Thursday, Oct. 26. Greetings and phrases such as “I love you”, were taught to students by instructors. Cameron Thompson, a second-year computer science major said about diversity week at TCC, “It’s hard to imagine how some people have it, like, I wouldn’t be able to give you this interview if I couldn’t talk and you didn’t know sign language. It makes you wish you could do something, like, right now.”
Friday former American Idol Contestant James Durbin held an outreach event in the Student Union Lounge. In the evening Durbin Held a concert for students to enjoy.
TCC’s Diversity Week allowed students to learn how to treat others, as well as learn new resources on campus and in Tallahassee.
