Anti-hate rally at PECI celebrates diversity

Prince Edward Collegiate Institute students celebrated diversity during Anti-Hate Day rallies Friday, April 15. The school’s pack auditorium interacted with Trenton High School’s student rally via video conference.

The PECI event included a video-conference with a similar event at Trenton High School.

Students from Ms. McErlean’s Grade 12 Challenge and Change in Society class spoke and presented videos on homosexuality, racism, sexual harassment and weight profiling.
PECI department heads Cathy Wilson and Gail Henderson, who work with the school’s Diversity Club helped execute the afternoon’s assemblies. Their students sold Pink Day T-shirts and wristbands to raise awareness of Day of Pink, which symbolizes a shared belief in celebrating diversity by wearing a pink T-shirt.
Day of Pink is an international day against bullying, discrimination and homophobia in schools and communities.

Students were at the controls for the sound and video presentation

Originating in Nova Scotia in 2007, Pink Shirt Day was a spontaneous show of support for a Grade 9 boy who arrived at school in a pink polo shirt and was teased and bullied by other students, just because he was wearing pink. Unwilling to put up with that behaviour in their school, two Grade 12 boys bought 50 pink shirts for students to wear at school the next day – one student was bullied, and 50 students stood up for him.
“Acknowledging every kind of love” – The Diversity Club at Prince Edward Collegiate Institute is for anyone and everyone.
The Facebook profile describes The Diversity Club as “a support group for bullying of any kind, whether it be racial, gender, sexual orientation, etc. We’re there as a safe haven for you. We can discuss different issues that are affecting us, or we can just sit around in talk if that’s what we need to do. This group will evolve into what its members make it, and that’s what makes it special.”
On Facebook, search PECI’s Diversity Club.