Diversity in School Programs
May 19, 2019
The inability to associate with anyone in classes that these students detailed creates a barrier that dissuades minorities from participating in programs such as the Associated Student Body (ASB), BioScience or The Foothill Dragon Press.
Within the group, there was a clear consensus that they view The Foothill Dragon Press to be a program lacking inclusivity of minorities. Beharry stated that he believes “there is not a lot of diversity” within the publication.
Jay Garcia ‘19 recalled that she was interested in joining the publication, however, when she saw the publication’s recruitment video that showed who was on the Dragon Press, she believed she would feel like “an outlier.”
As a result, she chose to not apply.
However, Beharry believes there is hope with the introduction of “Intersections in The Dragon Press” that aims to encourage minority participation in journalism.
Soriano moved the discussion forward by speaking of her sister’s experience in BioScience as being lonely. She quotes her sister in saying “that there is barely enough people that look like her, and she feels out place.”
Beharry believed the reason for this was that a student “can’t do Bioscience unless you take AP or Honors classes.”
Rachel Chang ‘19, who is a BioScience member, clarified that this is a misconception that many people have because most members take those classes, so as an academy, they represent themselves that way.
There are no AP or Honors requirements, but Chang believes this should be communicated more clearly to freshmen applying in the future.