Wednesday’s Discovering Diversity Panel, hosted by S.A.M.E. and the Talon, started out with a bang as Ms. Peterson gave the sophomore class a riveting speech about being a global citizen and respecting the differences of every individual. She expressed her hope for the panel to act as a continuation of the discussion begun at Academic Magnet last year with Dr. Nacoste’s convocation on the importance of neo-diversity before turning the stage over to senior William Pugh; who introduced the panel moderator:  MUSC’s new chief diversity officer, Mr. Anton Gunn. The panel discussion was split into two sessions, one with the sophomore class and one with the junior class, in order to initiate a more intimate conversation between the panelists and the audience.

The first session’s panelists consisted of Mr. Hong Pi, Dr. Sophia Rodriguez, Mr. Kevin Clayton, and AMHS sophomores Myles Myers and Greg Gardner, while the second session had Dr. Millicent Brown, Dr. Jon Hale, Rev. Bill Stanfield, and AMHS juniors Kevin Woods and the Talon’s very own Sophie Brams. While both sessions’ panelists were asked the same questions, the two panels ended up being very different; the first panel focused more on defining diversity as opposed to the second which directly addressed issues surrounding diversity and possible solutions to diversity problems, and the question of whether a lack of diversity was a problem. The panels also varied in the student panelists’ opinions on the lack of diversity at Academic Magnet; while the sophomores tended to express that there was not a diversity problem, the juniors were on the other end of the spectrum, believing that a diversity problem existed.

In addition to the mixed opinions of the students on the panel, the students in the sophomore and junior classes had mixed perceptions of the panel as well.While some enjoyed the discussion and felt that it fostered meaningful conversation, others felt that the panelists and the discussion shifted blame to the students for diversity problems and did not contribute any solutions to the problem. Overall, the goal of the panel was achieved as students have held multiple discussions in classrooms and with teachers on the topic of diversity and the diversity panel. If you would like to watch the video of the junior’s panel discussion, part 1 is available here and part 2 is available here.