HTHS Heritage Panel highlights social justice

A group of 24 Hewitt-Trussville High School students are looking to take social justice and discrimination awareness beyond social media hashtags and into the halls and classrooms of their school. 

The Heritage Panel is an organization at Hewitt-Trussville High School and Middle School, as well as more than a dozen other schools in Central Alabama, aiming to “eliminate all -isms” such as racism, sexism, genderism, classism, ageism and more, according to HTHS Heritage Panel sponsor Angie Simonetti.

Each year, the Heritage Panel goes through a two-day training session, conducted by YWCA, where the diverse group of 24 students learn each other’s stories, team-building exercises and how to prepare for a series of eight classroom presentations during the course of the year. Each presentation consists of a six-person panel to tell their stories to their peers, grades nine through 12. 

“The idea is not to slam anyone. It’s to bring awareness. They share, and we talk about it. It’s extremely empowering for them to recognize that the world is so much bigger than their own part of the world and what they understand,” Simonetti said. 

The stories include social injustices students have done, witnessed or had done to them – ranging from witnessing school bullying to verbally attacking one’s religion to being on the receiving end of racial slurs and hateful comments.

“Some people have very intense stories that they share and things they need to get off their chest, and I think that’s very important that they can tell their story and let people know that they’re not alone in certain situations,” said HTHS junior Halli Reese, who has been involved in Heritage Panel since seventh grade. 

Following each panel, there is a Q&A and discussion time in the classes.

“You never know what to expect. There’s some classes when they hear the story, people start crying. There’s some people who get angry because of something they’ve heard, or people who are shocked and they can’t believe what they’re hearing,” said Myles Taylor, a senior who is also the Husky Band drum major and student body vice president. “The thing about Heritage Panel is people are so different than you, you wouldn’t really think that their life could be like that because it hadn’t happened to you.”

Simonetti said the in-class panel discussions have “become a very safe environment for the kids experiencing it to be able to say, ‘This is what it feels like on my end.’ It’s a great dialogue to be able to say, ‘These are the things that we see.’ … When you see things through someone else’s eyes, it just looks differently.”

Both Reese and Taylor have been involved in Heritage Panel the last four years, beginning at Hewitt-Trussville Middle School, and have heard how the panel has helped open students’ eyes to issues. 

“I think it is something everyone should have a chance to experience, whether it’s being on a Heritage Panel or watching one, because you get to learn so much and you get to learn so much about other people. I think it’s a great experience,” said Reese, who said she encourages students to “be as nice as you can, because the little things can make or break someone’s day.”

Taylor said he has seen changes in individuals and hopes a larger impact will be noticeable in the community and world around them over time by people sharing their story and have conversations with someone different than them.

“Heritage Panel has made me more of an open person and open to change and open to different people,” Taylor said. “I think if we keep doing it and keep telling our stories and keep informing people, then we will have a huge change in our school, and I can’t wait to see that.”

Simonetti, who teaches biology, is one of four co-sponsors for the organization. Beginning this year, she is joined by last year’s HTHS Teacher of the Year Emily Hall (math), Jill Greene (psychology) and Molly Jones (math). 

In addition to the panel discussions, the organization is looking at taking field trips to the National Voter Rights Museum and Institute in Selma and is interested in visiting the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice and Legacy Museum in Montgomery.