With an opening in the LEAD (Listen, Engage, Acknowledge, Discuss) coordinator position, as well as the graduation of the Class of 2024, new community members are stepping up to run the program.
Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, Taylor Kanemori, with Flor Hernandez Morales, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging program manager, have taken on the role of LEAD coordinators.
The DEIB office runs the program; however, the two have not had the chance to head the program.
“We’d never actually been able to have our hands fully on the program, which was great for us in the beginning, as we were just trying to get our feet under us,” Kanemori said. “We will be handling all the logistical pieces and the training for LEADers and facilitation.”
The two became the interim LEAD coordinators because of their familiarity with the platform.
“It’s a program that lives under our department anyway, and so Flor and I thought we could take it on this year with some help from some other folks in the community,” Kanemori said. “Then we’ll reopen the position again next year.”
Senior Laura Capossela, along with the other three student execs, believes some changes will help students be more involved with LEAD.
“We’re going to really dive in on how to handle different situations,” Capossela said. “I hope that it’ll give the LEADers a lot of resources for how to motivate the students that we’re doing LEAD with.”
Capossela looks forward to the way the new program will play out through all the modifications.
“It’s been really great so far. We haven’t had any issues, so I’m mostly just excited for this year.”
The LEADers want to integrate the program earlier on for students so they will be more open to it later in their tenure.
“We decided to expand the program to the middle school, and it’s something we’re really excited about,” Capossela said. “By the time the middle schoolers get to high school, it’ll be a little more successful and productive.”
Kanemori wants LEAD to be a place where students are both involved and learning, not waiting until Community Time is over.
“I hope that we can continue to find ways that students do find it to be worth their time,” Kanemori said. “I believe that LEAD, like many things in school, is something that students will maybe look back on a little bit more and be like, ‘I’m glad I was able to have those conversations.’”
