Every year, the high school and its students celebrate Inclusion Week, designed to celebrate every student in the district. Several student organizations, such as the Student Council, Scottie Joe’s 18+ program, and other clubs all put in the work to make this Inclusion Week a special one.

“We do it a little bigger than others, but our theme is Kindness Counts, and Cool to Be Kind. Those are the two themes they’re going with,” Special Education Occupation Prep Tyson Peterson said.

To spread those themes, there will be people sharing all sorts of treats for those who show up.

“They got pens and candy and stickers and all that kind of stuff. And they’re gonna hand that out to the students that come in.” Peterson said.

With the treats given out during the morning, the event hopes to bring awareness to their campaign. 

“I would say above all else, students should use the mornings that student council and other clubs will be in the student entrance, passing out things as an opportunity just to start their days off in a positive headspace,” Young says.

Beyond the treats given out to students before school, the event will be hosting activities to spread awareness about the topic all day long.

“Scotty Joe’s will be handing out ‘Cups of Kindness’ during school lunches. Then we’re gonna do storyboards that kids are gonna get interviewed for,” Peterson said.

The ultimate goal of the event is to go beyond just celebrating inclusivity for one week but to help make inclusivity a common tradition.

“I think it would be cool to have an inclusive school’s club that could do more stuff throughout the year instead of just this one week because I think it helps to keep it ingrained that being kind is cool,” Peterson said.

Even though Peterson works within the special education department, to him, Inclusion Week is about more. Inclusion is all about bringing people together, beyond physical appearance and personal beliefs. 

“The whole week is about being kind to each other. It’s about different races, different people, and being kind to each other. It’s not just about bringing awareness to special education inclusivity.” Peterson said.

The Student Council works very closely with Peterson to help Inclusion Week run smoothly. Inclusion Week is always a special week for StuCo member and junior Cate Young, who places an emphasis on the significance of diversity.

“I just think inclusion in HP is just so important,” Young said. “Maintaining a mindset that our differences are what make us as a community is so unique and so powerful.”

A week as paramount as Inclusion Week requires a lot of planning on the part of StuCo and the other clubs and student organizations involved in order to prioritize the message of kindness and inclusivity above all else.

“We definitely began planning earlier and with more intent this year, because the message of inclusion week is so important, we don’t want it to get lost or pushed to the side, so there’s a lot of enthusiasm around it this year that I don’t think has been there in years past,” Young said.

StuCo member and senior Caroline Scott also participated in the planning of Inclusion Week. Scott’s primary goal was to make sure the message of Inclusion Week was clear to everyone involved.

“And then we’ve had meetings with the Spirited Scots and like Scotty Joe’s people and we’re kind of partnering with them to work on a few things, just to make sure everyone really realizes like why we do inclusion week and the true meaning of it,” Scott said.

Scott is also president of the Amigos Club, an organization that will be participating in making a video for the Inclusion Week pep rally.

“Well it’s a Spanish club, right? We make sure that anyone, whether they’re a native Spanish speaker or not, feels confident and welcome in a Spanish speaking conversation,” Scott says.

Scott relates the experience of working with the Amigos Club to the wider message of school wide inclusion associated with Inclusion Week.

“[Inclusion] is kind of like that idea where you might not know someone, but you feel welcome to sit at lunch with them or reach out to someone that you’ve never met before,” Scott says. “That’s why kindness is so important, so that everyone can feel welcome.”

Although inclusion week is widespread among schools, the student council has their own message they want to send that they hope people will find meaning in. 

“I really hope that people recognize what the week is really for, and internalize the fact that HP is an inclusive school that strives to make everyone feel welcome,” Scott says.