School Culture Guides Student Experiences

[Story by Zayna Jamil]

For many students, finding community at school can be a difficult process, especially when certain circumstances affect their ability to feel a sense of belonging.

At times, there can be tight-knit groups within school, but also largely diverse groups; students seek ways to be associated with either of these groups to fit in. Social/cultural indicators are also aspects of school that create culture, something in which every school embodies.

At schools, specifically Freedom High School, students are a diverse group, in which many cultures and ethnicities clash together and form their friend groups whether that’s through extracurricular activities, classes or mutual friendships. However, how students find these groups can vary from who a person is and their background.

“I’ve had multiple new students come from other communities where maybe they see people that look like them, and come into Freedom High School where we’re incredibly diverse, but for certain groups within the school, the numbers are low,” said Darlene Adu Gyamfi, FHS counselor.

A lot of students feel a sense of belonging through their own cultural groups based on their religion or ethnicity. An important reason why students find it difficult seeking a community at school is because, a lot of times, diversity they see is not prevalent in their own community. This can lead to students with specific backgrounds losing that binding connection with others, feeling as if their own voices aren’t heard.

Some students may feel more comfortable associating themselves with those who share similar customs and traditions as them and some may be open to experiencing connections through the sharing of differences in ways of life. These factors depend on each person and their way of navigating through the school’s social phenomenon.

“Students feel a domino effect coming from an environment where they’re surrounded by people who feel like them, look like them or share similar experiences with them and then come into a new environment where there’s not a lot of that,” Adu-Gyamfi said.

For those students who struggle to find community or feel like they don’t apply to the general “norm” of a school, extracurriculars and other aspects of school besides classes have positively impacted their social life at FHS. Through their passions and interests, students still find ways to connect with other students who differ from them. Culture is usually not the only form of belonging for students, especially in a school where many students have various beliefs and have grown up with different experiences.

“FHS is home to an almost absurd amount of communities that people can join,” said senior Yohaness Berhe. “Clubs for people with similar interests or backgrounds, honor societies for our more scholarly students and sports teams that come together to achieve their goals.

Through the many student-centered clubs at FHS, students have found the strongest communities that best suit their interests. Cultural, business, humanities, sciences, academic and game clubs have been a resource that strengthens their ability in confidence to make friends.

Some students even think that FHS should take the initiative to better its ways of creating student community at school through better get-to-knowyou activities or club fairs. This would make students who are new or who are trying to seek community more comfortable and at pace when the school year begins.

“In the beginning of the school year, we could do more mixers with our grades,” said sophomore Tara Bhogaraju. “Instead of icebreakers that nobody really enjoys, implement more activities that could join people together and get to know each other in a more fun and modern way.”

Although students may struggle with finding a place at FHS due to many reasons such as cultural differences, self-esteem and being a new student to the school, opportunities and experiences await the youth every year of high school, and students make the first choice to start that new journey in their high school careers.