It’s no secret that SJHS is a very diverse school. You walk the halls and find students with different styles, backgrounds, and ethnicities all coming to the same place for an education. We at SJHS have been given the theme of One Sacred Community this year. However, many students still ponder the question, “Are we really One Sacred Community?”

Students at SJHS aren’t really sure if they see the unity that our theme reflects. As you walk around the halls, the diversity is there, but the unity seems to be severely lacking. Many students seem to be isolated by cliques or groups that others automatically place them in because of a simple assumption. Those being placed in cliques feel they are being stereotyped and labeled. Many students happen to fall into cliques based on similar interests, cultures, or ideologies.

We at The Parmentier say the big issue in this case would be the automatic assumptions people make of others. Being part of a group or clique does not necessarily mean that you don’t have friends outside the clique. Students seem to be struggling with accepting each other for who they really are, and simply find it easier to stick to their own kind.

In such cases when this does not happen, students feel the division to be much stronger. When students from different groups or cliques merge together, some might end up feeling disrespected because they might not always understand what the other group is trying to say. This might be due to certain language barriers or the use of different slang terminology.

Lack of respect is also something that contributes to the further disunity of our school community. The problem with this is that many groups have a hard time accepting or understanding a view or opinion that is different than theirs. By trying to defend their own views, a group may be inadvertently disrespecting the other. This is because different students have different views on what respect really is.

We at The Parmentier feel that students need to remember that not everyone has the same background or ideologies and that we should respect their views. By using the term respect we mean that we should accept the opinions of others and try to understand them. We should also try to avoid assumptions and stereotypes because these generalizations usually aren’t true.

Another good idea would be to simply be careful with what you say. Words can spread very quickly around this school and you wouldn’t want to be stuck in the middle of a serious problem. It’s like S. Barbara says, “If you sneeze on the 7th floor, someone on the 2nd floor is already saying God bless.” News spreads fast, so wouldn’t we want that news to be good rather than bad? “Mean what you say and say what you mean,” is another thing S. Barbara says, but we must take this phrase with caution. We must be cautious with our words and if you have nothing nice to say, then try not to say it at all.

To us, One Sacred Community is a safe environment in which we should work together to get things done in school despite all our differences. We need to learn how to treat and approach those we might not like and maybe this might help us come one step closer towards unity. We are all one team in this One Sacred Community!