For a number of years now, Haliburton Highlands Secondary School (HHSS) has kicked off Pride Month by hosting a Pride Week and organizing a number of activities for students to take part in.
The activities are run by the school’s leadership classes, with an overall goal of promoting inclusivity and helping two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual plus (2SLGBTQIA+) students feel represented and welcomed within the school.
“I’m incredibly proud of our leadership students and staff who took the lead in organizing this year’s Pride Week events as one of the many things they do throughout the year. Their thoughtful planning, compassion, and excitement for the events were noticeable and reflects the spirit of our school,” said HHSS principal, Jennifer Mills. “I am also deeply thankful to everyone who took part – staff, students, and our communities. Being kind and welcoming to everyone is a core value here, and it’s important to me that every person in our school community knows they belong.”
This year’s celebrations took place the first week of June and included:
Theme days
Students were invited to wear specific coloured clothing throughout the week via a different theme on each day, including Rainbow Day, Be Bold Day, Favourite Colour Day, and Show Your Pride Day. The leadership classes sold HHSS designed pride t-shirts prior to the week for students and staff to purchase.
Dramatic Reading and Coffee House
On June 3, the school hosted a Dramatic Reading of the play She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen. The initiative invited students from all Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) secondary schools to audition, and also attend the show.
She Kills Monsters follows the story of sisters Agnes and Tilly. After Tilly’s death, Agnes finds Tilly’s journal, which was written in the format of a Dungeons and Dragons quest and uses it to learn more about her sister. Through magical quests and battling monsters, Agnes learns the side of Tilly she never knew, and everyone learns ways to accept themselves in 90s America.
The production had a great turn out, with students attending from Fenelon Falls Secondary School, HHSS, I.E. Weldon Secondary School, and the Virtual Learning Centre.
“This initiative gave students the opportunity to express themselves fully on stage, knowing that it was a safe space,” said HHSS teacher lead, Christine Carr. “They could play roles that reflected themselves and see it normalized. They also saw the acceptance that is out there — from TLDSB, the students from other secondary schools, and to hear the laughs and positive responses from the audience members. Pride Week at HHSS is not only about promoting Pride, but about creating a safe space for students of all genders and sexualities, and this helped make that goal visible.”
“This was an amazing experience and it was an honour to be included. It felt very welcoming and we all had the ability to just be ourselves,” explained HHSS student, Spencer Zumpano, who played Chuck. “I wish there were more opportunities like this out there for queer youth to be themselves and not feel like you’re being shunned from the light of day.”
“Working on She Kills Monsters was a really great way to dip my toes into the dramatic arts, and I have now found that I love working on these types of projects. It sparked a passion for acting and collaboration that I didn’t know I had, and I’m excited to keep exploring theatre and performance in the future,” said Virtual Learning Centre student, Emily Austin-Ward, who played Orcus.
The reading was followed by a coffee house, which offered snacks and drinks to students, and also invited them to an open mic session where they sang and played instruments.
Queer Youth BBQ
In collaboration with the Haliburton County Youth Wellness Hub and Pride in the Highlands, the school hosted an after school BBQ on June 5 that invited all students and their families to come, eat, socialize, play video games, and celebrate pride.
Annual Colour Run
To end the week, the school held their annual Colour Run on June 6! Students were invited by the schools leadership classes to take part in an array of activities, including running/walking around the track, painting, an inflatable slide, button making, bubble blowing, tattooing, spike ball, parachuting, tug-a-war, and corn-hole. A number of community partners were also present to speak with students about services available in the community.
