Embracing Our Differences Unity Day initiative promotes empathy, respect, and resiliency amongst students through a multi-part workshop of team-building activities that encourage cooperation and communication while providing opportunities for students to embrace their similarities and respect their differences.
Studies have shown that school communities with a culture built on kindness and respect report far fewer instances of bullying and social isolation. Whether online or in school, according to The National Center for Education Statistics, approximately 22 percent of students ages 12-18 reported being bullied during the school year. Meaningful change in eliminating bullying occurs when students feel empowered to make a difference on their school’s campus with peer-driven initiatives that encourage students of all ages and backgrounds to learn from each other.
Unity Day is an interactive leadership and community-building program that brings together high school students to strengthen relationships and support a more inclusive school culture. Through guided conversations, team challenges, personal reflection, and collaborative art-making, students practice active listening, respectful communication, empathy, and cooperation. Activities encourage participants to discover common ground, examine assumptions and stereotypes, learn from different perspectives, and consider how their actions affect others. Students also explore different forms of leadership and identify practical ways to encourage their peers, navigate conflict, and create positive change. The experience equips students to carry these lessons into their classrooms, clubs, teams, and broader school community.
Over the course of the workshop, cohorts of approximately 75 students acquire the tools to be active leaders and create a welcoming culture within their respective school communities.
Prior to the event, a core group of 10 to 15 student leaders and 2 to 4 faculty members are identified and meet with the Unity Day facilitator to receive training to help lead the event. Additional student participants are selected through educator nominations, with an emphasis on identifying the widest range of students possible, so the participant group represents a microcosm of the larger school community.
Examples of Unity Day workshop activities include:
|
Activity |
Objective |
|
If You Really Knew Me: |
To demonstrate the importance of being/exposing your authentic self and being able to recognize that there is more to your peers than what is apparent on the surface. |
|
Leader of the Pack: |
To demonstrate for students the opportunity to spontaneously take a leadership role and command the attention of their small groups by having them follow their directives. |
|
What Makes Us Think That?: |
To create awareness of how people prejudge others and to help students recognize prejudgments they may have made about each other. |
|
Wagon Wheel: |
This discussion technique gives students the opportunity to respond to questions with a variety of peers, encouraging students to identify and reflect on the various ways they associate socially and it impacts the ways others perceive or treat them. |
|
Cross the Line: |
To emphasize the importance of knowing and communicating personal values while reflecting upon their own self and acknowledging the identities of others. |
|
Closing Circle: |
This end-of-day responsive closing circle uses techniques that foster reflection and celebration after participating in activities on self-reflection and building relationships. |
The following Florida Resiliency Education Standards are addressed as part of this experience:
For more information, please contact us at [email protected] or 941-404-5710.
