Navigating the waters of middle school is tough for children. They are stuck in a transition from childhood and are starting to build who they will become as adults. Amber Foulk, language arts teacher at Leander Middle School, knows this as well as anyone and wants to help her students become compassionate, accepting adults.
About five years ago, she learned how to do just that at a prejudice awareness summit in Austin. She took a group of students to the summit to learn how to be proactive in stopping bullying and prejudice in their school. Those students wanted to take their involvement a step further, and the Prejudice Awareness Club was born.
“The one reason I really like this club is teenagers get a bad rap for being apathetic,” Foulk said. “It’s so rewarding for me to be involved with kids that are positive and want to raise awareness in their world.”
Since that first year, the club has grown from six members to having 15 to 35 student show up to each meeting. Foulk said the turnout is especially impressive given the group meets at 8:15 a.m. every Friday.
The members say they enjoy being a part of the club because it teaches them how to help another student who might not be able to stand up for himself.
“Basically, what we do here is stop bad things from happening,” Joel Also, one of the club’s officers, said.
Stephen Longoria said he came to the group because he thought it would look good on college applications. Once he started attending meetings, however, he said the group started to change the way he thought about his fellow students.
“I didn’t really understand what prejudice awareness meant, I thought it was just a club,” he said. “I think this club is going to change me into a better person.”
Aaron Jones said the club has already changed him into a better person. He said before he joined, he was one of those students who would make fun of other children. He said he wanted to turn over a new leaf and start to understand other people’s cultures and differences.
Just listening to the members of the club interact proves how the club’s motto of acceptance has affected them. The students are quick to point out possibly hurtful language, and redirect negative thoughts.
Sexuality becomes especially difficult at the middle school level, Foulk said. When one student told a story about her friend making fun of a group of homosexual men, one of the other students said she loves gay people. The other students promptly jumped in and said that being gay should not automatically be considered bad or good. Members are quick to point out that being part of any group does not define who a person is. The goal is to have people judged as individuals, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, musical preference or any other superficial quality.
“I think mostly what the prejudice awareness club is about is accepting people’s differences,” Ashleigh Fisher-Jones, another member, said. She said that motto really hit home for her when she was out with a friend who was making fun of some men across the room.
“I told her that was not even cool,” she said. “It started getting really annoying because how would I feel if I knew someone was over there talking about me just because I’m different?”
Foulk said that kind of advocacy is exactly what the group aims for. She said, especially for middle school-aged children, it can be very easy to stand by and let things happen and more often than not, the students will join in with their friends just to be accepted.
“It’s not a joking matter,” she said. “That’s another human being you’re talking about.”