Multicultural Workshops

It started in my sophomore year. We were assigned a project similar to this year, we had to find a real-world issue and come up with a solution to it. My issue to solve was that certain clubs, groups, and activities, within our school, weren't getting the recognition they needed. My solution was to come up a showcase to give these clubs, groups, and activities a platform to show who they are. Fast forward two years and we were gove the same task. Instantly knew I was going to make this idea even better than it was sophomore year .

While I was working on prototype #1, I was given an amazing opportunity to apply for a grant that turned my whole project around. The #FrandsenForward Grant is a grant that gives an individual a chance to enhance academic or extracurricular and community programs. Along with the help of my STEAM program coordinator, I was able to come with up the Idea of a Multicultural workshop night. This idea is the improved version of the Sophomore year showcase, formerly known as " The Unkown Groups Showcase". I took this improved idea and applied for the grant and was successful with it. My project was selected and it now has $5,000 in funding.

As a part of our senior capstone project, we had to go through a professional review night. Adults of different job backgrounds, as well as adults in the community, came to our school talked with us about our projects and gave feedback. There were three rounds. In the first two rounds, adults and students were paired based on the student's project. In the last round the adults, known as the professional reviewers, got to roam around and learn more about other student's projects.

At the beginning of this process I knew I would have to revamp a lot of things, Including my problem. For my new problem instead of beating around the bush I got specific. Minority students aren't joining Extracurricular activities after school due to feelings discouragement. I explored further into this question and found three current solutions within our school and other too. these solotutions were Classrooom diversity, Frehsman Orientation, and Teacher recommendation. Even though all these solutions sound like simple fixes they each have their flaws. Classroom diversity may  introduce student to a new culture it doesn't give that push for people to go out of their way and explore these cultures. Next up, is freshman orientation. I find this the least effective because it doesn't do a Goodenough job of representing all the extracirccular activities. Lastly is Teacher recommendation. This won't work unless the teacher and student have a decent to close relationship. Adding this research with the feedback form the professional review night helped me develop Prototype #2.

In this stage, our main goal was to ready ourselves for the STEAM Expo which is a big showcase with the different areas in STEAM, along with our senior projects, are displayed for people to see. Personally, my goal was to host multicultural workshop night before our STEAM showcase. This will be held at our school, using rooms throughout the building to hold Sessions. Each leader will be a person of color or a person of diverse background. In order to get to this point took a lot of planning, but the downside is there wasn't enough time, communication, an organization to pull it through.