Celebrating difference at RCHK
By Charisse Chan
Diversify is a project founded by students in 2014 that raises awareness for global inequalities. Originally supposed to be an RCHK LGBTQ+ Alliance club, it was founded by a group of students who wanted to provide guidance for other students struggling with their identities and to encourage an inclusive environment through education.
Diversify is a project filled with students that are passionate about raising awareness for globally problematic discrimination of all kinds, who are bringing an opportunity for students to stand up for what they believe in.
But what exactly do they do now? I asked Audrey Lau, the Deputy of Communications for Diversify and a Year 12 student.
As a project made to advocate and teach people about diversity, Lau states that, “We aim to raise awareness about global inequalities on a local scale by organizing activities advocating for different causes throughout the school year.”
Lau explained that in previous years, Diversify focused on yearly themes of different types of discrimination. Students in charge of the project would run activities and events that involved our school community. This included students focusing on LGBTQ+ discrimination in HK and giving RCHK students the opportunity to attend the Pride Parade with Diversify.
However, their aim this year is to broaden the types of discrimination covered and to instead make Diversify an umbrella project for mini-projects addressing various types of discrimination to be conducted by the students involved.
According to Lau, “As a whole, Diversify holds a lot of values that our team resonates with.” The team wanted to make Diversify an official group at school to cover all sorts of minority groups, not just to spread LGBTQ+ awareness.
Lau also delved into the motivation behind Diversify: “[It] means a lot to me because of how it's given me a chance to advocate for the things I believe in. I think it's important that we have open discussions about issues that might be considered 'difficult to talk about', especially because of how prevalent discrimination is in our society. Having a safe space for students allows for us to make greater strides towards fostering inclusivity, advocacy and a celebration of all identities at RCHK.”
The project was actually on hiatus for two years due to the pandemic, but the heads for this year's Diversify team thought it would be a good opportunity to re-build Diversify in the school community. Though due to difficulties with the pandemic, Diversify is currently more focused on setting up plans for the following academic year. “It takes time to get things off the ground, but every small step is a step forward,” said Lau.