Celebrating Diversity at Chalmers:

On Monday, June 3rd all schools in the Waterloo Region District School Board raised the Pride flag in support of diversity and inclusion. The current flag (originally created in 1978) is comprised of six colours each with a distinct significance: red means life, orange means healing, yellow means sunshine, green means nature, blue means harmony, and purple means spirit.

As identified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

Each of us has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community, and the right to education.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

At Chalmers, we all belong. We all deserve to feel safe, included and are encouraged to be ourselves. We are united by the richness of our differences, and we are unique in our own amazing way.

When thinking about and considering diversity it’s important to recognize that it comes in many forms: age, ability, gender, identity, race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, and even learning styles, personality, and life experiences.

Diversity is about respect, acceptance, and making smart choices, which was the theme for this month’s PAWS assembly. When I hear people talk about or refer to “making smart choices,” I think about the importance of perspective and how rooted we are in our own personal stories. The things that we say and do have an impact on others, regardless of whether or not we are consciously aware of how are decisions make others feel. This highlights the connection between intentions and impact. For example, you may have the best of intentions, but your actions have the potential to generate an undesirable effect for others.

Take a moment to position yourself from a different viewpoint. Would the quality of your experience and the emotions attached to it vary if you were in a different position? If you were sitting there rather than here, or if you were on the receiving of the information or outcome instead of being the one sending the message, how would you feel? Perspective matters. Individual perception is that person’s reality. Think about the last interaction you had with someone outside of your immediate family or peer circle. Reflect on how what you said or did would have made you feel if the roles were reversed. It’s likely hard to respond to this scenario accurately without truly knowing or being the other person.

Youth for Human Rights (Video): Article 26- The Right to Education

The next time you feel your emotions coming to the surface and you make the decision to do this and not that, hit pause and try to live a moment in a different pair of shoes. Being left out, not included or considered in an experience has an impact. Let’s utilize the power of reflection in determining our actions so that we can move forward in the best way possible: with courage, compassion, love and solidarity.

Jeff Johnson, Principal

Indigenous Arts and Culture Night at Chalmers:

Thank you to Kelly Fran Davis and her children, as well as Carol Lévis and Colleen Brunelle from the Grand River Métis Council for leading our students and their families through an engaging Indigenous Arts and Culture Night at Chalmers on Thursday, May 17th. Our students participated in Haudenosaunee social dancing, shared their ideas and reflected upon how to obtain and maintain “a good mind” in our community circle, created Métis dot art and learned more about the significance of lacrosse (we even practised some of the fundamental skills). Thank you to all Chalmers’ staff, students and families who participated in and assisted with the organization of this wonderful community engagement event.