For the 2024-25 school year, music teacher and Equity Coordinator Mr. Matthew Karnstedt created a group of about 27 students that “represent all walks of life” at LHS, from faces seen in the hallways to the “more historically marginalized groups.” On Monday, May 29 of last year, the Diversity Council met for the first time. Similar groups have existed at Vernon Hills High School as well as several other schools in the area, motivating Mr. Karnstedt to connect with the student body and various affinity groups to establish a new group at LHS.
The Diversity Council met on Thursday, August 29 to discuss goals ranging from current global events to harder conversations about real life experiences. However, the group’s direct goals for the year are still in development.
“[The group is] trying to promote an environment where students feel safe to share opinions, but also feel safe to have good faith debates about things,” Mr. Karnstedt said.
One goal that the council, the new principal Dr. Albin, and District 128 all share is to increase a sense of belonging among students. With everything currently going on in the world in addition to students moving up grade levels and changing their level of rigor in the classes, Mr. Karnstedt wants to keep in mind the student experience.
Junior Imose Osayimwen hopes that the council will give students more opportunities to learn about other cultures and for students to feel heard, such as students coming from different countries, exchange students and students that have any “complaints or grievances” that they want to express.
“Growing up being Nigerian, I didn’t know a lot of people like me,” Osayimwen said. “I didn’t get to experience many people who looked like me. So getting to form a group where there’s others who might have had a similar experience to me is nice, knowing that everyone can be heard and that everyone can share where they’re coming from.”
For junior Ishika Banerjee, the Asian Pacific Islander (API) Summit, a big event where LHS and VHHS celebrate and discuss Asian Pacific Islander culture, inspired her to join the Diversity Council.
“[API Summit] was really beneficial because I feel like a lot of people opened up and were able to talk about their experiences in a predominantly white school, so it felt really inspiring,” Banerjee said. “I wanted to do the Diversity Council because everyone should feel like that, but rather than just one event, make it a school-wide thing where people feel safe enough to talk about their culture.”
Similar to Osayimwen and Banerjee, junior Andy Trob hopes that the ` Diversity Council will create a meaningful change in the school’s community.
“As a Jewish person at the school…I think it’s important that Jewish people feel safe and heard at the school,” Trob said. “I hope it becomes a safe space for people of all groups to feel welcome and feel safe.”
As the Diversity Council goes into the school year and beyond years, Mr. Karnstedt wants the students to take control over the group and put it “as much in their hands as possible,” creating a discussion space and ideas to bring outside of the meeting into their own lives and social networks, in addition to setting up events to tie back to the main goal of creating a safe space for students within the school.
“We [want to] ensure that whoever walks through the doors here feels connected to the school and the other students, and has that sense that this is a place where they truly belong and can be themselves,” Mr. Karnstedt said.
