ONTARIO — For years, Mikayla Minard coped with the snubs of her peers by burying her pain inside.
Now, she and a group of fellow students are breaking their silence in an effort to make their school a better place.
The Warrior Leadership Committee was formed in February after a series of conversations between parents, students, school staff and community members about how to improve the culture at Ontario High School, Principal Chris Smith said.
Those conversations led to a list of initiatives, many of which are student-driven.
The WLC’s all-student executive committee presented its work during a school board meeting Tuesday. Among the initiatives are student leadership training, a mentoring program, a welcome effort for new students, a monthly focus committee and a “courageous conversations” series where students can talk about the challenges they face.
These conversations can be uncomfortable, but students and staff say they’re already generating positive change.
“The first step of making any change being is able to at least talk about it, acknowledge the problem, and wanting to move forward,” said Minard, a senior at Ontario.
Superintendent Lisa Carmichael described WLC’s presentation to high school staff a few weeks prior as an eye-opening experience.
“I’ve talked to so many teachers after your presentation that were, still weeks after, having discussions and very strong emotions saying, ‘I had no idea this was happening,’ ” Carmichael told the committee. “It really is making us all more aware and helping us become better at what we do too, so thank you.”
During previous conversations, Minard and others opened up about their struggles with racism, bullying and being the new kid at school.
Minard, who is biracial, transferred to Ontario Local Schools in the fifth grade. Throughout middle school, she said some of her peers made hurtful comments that eroded her self-confidence.
“I remember being humiliated because I was told that no one would want to go (to the middle school dance) with me because I was black,” she said. “I thought that I was ugly. I thought that my curly hair was something to be ashamed of, the color of my skin was something to be ashamed of. I think I bottled that in for a really long time.”
In an attempt to look more like her classmates, Minard straightened her hair and stayed out of the sun. If her friends wanted to play outside in the summer, she hung back.
“I wanted to wear sunscreen all the time — SPF 110 — because I was afraid to tan,” she recalled. “I didn’t want my skin to get darker because I didn’t want to get made fun of at school.”
During high school, Minard threw herself into athletics and extracurriculars to try to prove to herself that she was good enough to belong.
“Since then I think I’ve come to understand who I am and love myself a little more. I understand now that kids are mean in middle school. It’s something that I learned from, and I’ve grown from,” she said.
Despite growing in confidence and her sense of self, Minard still never talked about the pain she was working through until a couple of months ago.
“Other kids have experienced this too. We’ve been afraid to speak up about it and being a part of this community has kind of forced me to come out of my shell and find my voice and be that voice for other kids too, which I’m really proud of,” Minard said.
Senior Jenin Abdelaziz shared similar struggles. Abdelaziz is the child of Russian and Palestinian immigrants. She has lived in the United States her entire life, but experienced culture shock after moving from a large, ethnically diverse part of Florida to Ontario in the seventh grade.
Classmates said “blatant, ignorant, disgusting things” to Abdelaziz, but she did her best to ignore it.
“I’ve been called a demon, I’ve been blamed by kids whose parents served in the Middle East for them being over there,” she said. “Coming into high school, I always told myself, ‘People are ignorant; they don’t understand. You don’t have to take it so personal.’ But at the same time, trying to navigate who you are in middle school and high school, of course there you’re gonna internalize a lot of that.”
Fellow Senior Abi Perez is also a member of the WLC’s executive committee. Perez moved to the United States from Mexico at the age of 10 after her father was offered an engineering job. She knew no English at the time, so she never really knew what her peers were saying about her.
By the time she got to middle school, that changed.
“Kids began to make fun of my accent or say things like ‘just go back to your country,’” Perez recalled. “It was a really hard time and I never felt like I could tell a teacher what was happening.”
Perez told the board about WLC’s mentorship initiative, which will pair high school students with elementary and middle-school students starting next school year.
“I think mentoring is such an important part of this, because if I had someone older that I could look up to, even when I first moved here, it would have helped so much,” she said.
While improving social awareness and cultural sensitivity is one component of the group’s work, the students say it goes far beyond race and ethnicity. The WLC’s also hopes to address a variety of topics through its work.
“Every single student at the school faces something whether it’s mental health, family issues, economically, the spectrum is so wide and making sure that everyone is comfortable is so important to me,” Abdelaziz said.
Ellie Maurer spoke about the group’s efforts to welcome new students. The high school junior also transferred to Ontario in middle school and remembers how difficult the transition can be.
“I was nervous every single day coming to school. I didn’t know who to hang out with,” Maurer said.
Greg Tan discussed the WLC’s monthly focus. The group will design posters and bulletin boards around the school with information about different topics, but also focus on those issues outside of school.
“Each month we’re going to pick a topic that we want to emphasize to promote,” Tan said. “This month, in partnership with Key Club and Student Council we’ll be doing events like planting trees, spring cleanup, and pretty much anything that we think of that could foster a greater sense of community and school spirit.”
The committee also plans to create some more lighthearted events. They recently hid 600 Easter eggs filled with candy throughout the school.
“Ultimately, we’re just doing the best we can to build some traditions or create some events that will get each and every student involved and make them excited to go to school every day,” Tan said.
The WLC recently recruited about 50 more students, who continue to work on the group’s initiatives next school year.
School board member Todd Friend also commended the students for their grassroots efforts.
“You should be so proud of yourself for what you’re doing,” Friend told the committee. “I think this will leave a lasting effect on Ontario for years after you’re gone and I want to thank you.”
