LEAD

“Stomping out Stereotypes” Project

The LEAD (Leadership Education and Development) Class of 2017 is preparing to launch a project to eliminate stereotyping within the local community.  Earlier in Term 3, The Foundation of Young Australians visited the class and ran a workshop for the whole day.  The class was inspired to create a project to target a common social issue (stereotyping), and was offered a grant of $500 to fund it.  The name of the project is “Stomping out Stereotypes”, and the aim of it is to raise awareness about stereotyping to the younger generation.

The class collected information from students, teachers and parents to later analyse and construct workshops.  The class is also investing a large proportion of the money in creating a website on Weebly, outlining their project and what they hope to achieve.  It also acts as a resource for students and teachers to learn more about stereotyping in the wider community.  The workshops will be run in some Year 7 classes and in local primary schools over the next Term.  The first workshop has been scheduled for Wednesday 20 September, and the students are very excited to get the workshops underway.

The class organised themselves into small groups to gain insight into different areas of stereotyping, and to promote the project by designing a logo, a website, and a documentary video.  In addition, the students have learnt many things during the process of the project creation:

“I've been able to expand on my knowledge of stereotypes by delving deep into the internet to find out all about the impact stereotypes have on children at a young age, whether those effects come from their parents, television or toy advertisements in local shops. I've also been able to look over my friends’ information and found out more about stereotypes in sport, race and religion. It's been an important topic throughout the term and we've all taken it seriously which has been great to see.” – Kynen Cogan (Year 9)

The class hopes to “Stomp out” stereotypes in the younger community by interactively teaching primary school and junior high school students about one of the greatest social issues in humanity.  If you have any enquiries, concerns, or would like to be a part of the “Stomping Out Stereotypes” project, feel free to email sbahramis@fhs.vic.edu.au.

Mrs Sarah Bahramis

Director of Student Leadership and

Community Engagement