One of the plans Allies in Diversity had as a club was to visit the homeless shelter in Joliet, but due to COVID they were unable to do so. They’ve found ways to work around these shortcomings though. 

“We will be collecting hygiene products and clothing to donate to the shelter instead,” Ms. Valerie Tijerina, the sponsor for the club, said. 

Allies in Diversity is overcoming challenges during COIVD, and seeks to help the school community tackle issues, too. 

It is a relatively new club that began last year, and as the name suggests, their main goal is to promote and encourage diversity.

They meet every Wednesday at 3 p.m., and since it began in the era of quarantine, it ended up being a heavily discussion-based club. 

During their normal club hours, they will talk about ways they can display positive messages regarding diversity at MCHS and they will listen to students who have been the victim of racism or prejudice at the school.

They also hope to have a guest speaker every month to possibly talk about their own experiences or to just speak on diversity in general. They are also trying to come up with ways to be more diverse in the curriculum. 

Alaina Frazier and Morgan Moreno, both seniors, proposed the Allies in Diversity club idea back in June 2020. 

“We met with Dr. Zwemke to discuss injustices and social issues within our school and community,” Frazier said. “We presented a list of ideas for reform that we thought could be implemented which included Allies in Diversity.” 

Of course, with the involvement of quarantine and COVID, the club had to rely mostly on discussion rather than hands-on activities. Fortunately, the club works well this way and they’re able to keep it going without too much trouble.

“We are so grateful that because our club is very discussion based, we have been able to create a comfortable atmosphere without actually being together,” Frazier said.

Frazier also adds that they were able to do a bunch of activities remotely as well, and they can continue to come up with more ideas and enact change in their school and community. 

“I’m glad we have a club that is a safe place where students can learn from each other and are accepting of everyone regardless of their skin color, beliefs, and gender,” Tijerina said.