The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned that The Ellis School, in Shadyside, held its annual Culture Jam, Nov. 15.
The 16th of its kind, the Culture Jam is the largest and longest-running student-led diversity conference in the Pittsburgh region.
Diana Hurd, with The Ellis School, told the Courier that this year’s theme was “Beyond the Buzzword,” which explored common terms found in social justice spaces.
“With the goal of inspiring young people to take action and implement meaningful change in their communities, the conference offered a space for students from diverse-lived experiences to have courageous conversations about issues relating to equity, inclusion, diversity, identity, and representation,” Hurd told the Courier.
The Culture Jam is led by Ellis’ Student Diversity League.
“Culture Jam is an opportunity for high school students to learn from and teach each other about social justice issues and core cultural identifiers: race, gender, religion, sexuality, socio-economic status, family structure, and more,” shared Aniya Akhtar, Class of 2020 and co-president of SDL, in a statement. “As institutions and individuals strive to finally achieve the ideals of diversity and inclusion, we wanted to ask ourselves and our peers what is the deeper meaning of the goals we are working towards and how do we get there?”
Throughout the day, students celebrated diversity, promoted empathy, and discussed social justice in a variety of student-led workshops. This year’s workshops included, among others: Disrupting rape culture; African dance; Mixed feelings, the multi-racial identity and what it means; and how the American health care system is failing its Black women.
Following breakout workshop sessions, Summer Lee, state Rep. for the 34th District of the Pennsylvania House, delivered the keynote address where she spoke to students about their ability to impact change. Hurd told the Courier that Rep. Lee shared how critical it is for today’s youth to voice their opinions and stand up for what they believe in if they want to make the world a more equitable and safe place now and in the future.
ELLIS STUDENTS at this year’s “Culture Jam,” held at the school, Nov. 15. (Feature photo)
by Courier Newsroom
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