Isa Lee ‘23
EE News Editor

THS students join the SHADES club in celebrating #THURSDAYSINBLACK.

Trumbull High came together with an Inclusion Spirit Week from March 28 to April 1. It was a week where everyone could celebrate their true selves and show support for mental health challenges, diversities, the LGBTQ community, and women of color. Students and staff made their support known through their fashion choices.

The beginning of the week began with Mental Health Monday or Neon Day. We joined Youth Advocating for Youth (YAY) and wore neon to shine a light even during dark times.

YAY wants you to know you are not alone and help is always available. YAY promoted mental health resources and distributed bracelets with positive messages on them. This was a major success, with the ability to spread mental health resources around the school to help students when they are struggling. The lunch tables had carefully curated, laminated, lists containing resources for an array of situations.

The bright neon yellow posters around the school also had the resources listed. Mathew Which, a member of YAY, explains his participation: “It was wonderful to see the Trumbull High School student body come together to build a more inclusive environment for all students. It is of utmost importance for every student to feel welcome at Trumbull High School, and the Inclusion Spirit Week provided an opportunity to continue to build our community with that in mind.”

Winch also reminds us to follow @youthadvocatingforyouth on Instagram to see more ways to spread positivity and access resources. 

Next, the Peer Leaders Club created a diversity day to wear colors that showcase heritage and unique experiences.

“Through my efforts of helping to plan inclusion week, I felt it was important for me to participate in each of these days to show my support”, said junior, Reshma Kode, who showed her diversity through her clothing. “Specifically, for diversity day, I wore orange and green to represent the colors of the Indian flag and represent my culture. It was amazing to see how everyone proudly showed off their different cultures, allowing the school to come together as a community and promote acceptance”.

The middle of the week, Wednesday, was PJ and Pronouns Day. The Gender Sexual Alliance club says: “Be comfortable, be you, and let’s celebrate our gender identity and wear PJs to school”.

“I am most excited for this day to get to come to school and be comfortable and represent my true self”, said junior Makena Brown. “I am happy to support and be an alliance of those in the LGBTQ community”. 

On Thursday, the school wore all black to join the SHADES for #THURSDAYSINBLACK, the global movement to show support and stand against violence toward women of color. Junior, Anisha Kurup, a member of the club SHADES, showed off her involvement. She wore a black long sleeve shirt and black leggings.

“Whenever inclusion days are brought up, there are mixed emotions behind it so it was cool to see how many people participated and supported the idea behind the day,” Kurup said. 

To finish off the week, Friday was Inclusion Day with the saying: “What makes us unique brings us together!” The Best Buddies Club allowed students the opportunity to buy THS shirts throughout the week to wear them on Friday. The whole school joined Best Buddies and wore their inclusion shirts of Black and Gold on the last day of inclusion week. It was an amazing experience and overwhelming accomplishment that we were able to come together as a school, and this was proven through the amazing reactions and results of our students who all participated and showed their spirit in different ways.