Harmony Happenings: Club prepares for new year

Sandra Omari-Boateng/Staff Writer

The start up of Harmony is just around the corner. The club will kick off Tuesday, Oct. 26 from 7-9 p.m.

The kick-off will include food for everyone who attends and a talk given by a panel of students about what Harmony is all about. After the panel, students will be split up into committees to discuss what will be going on this year.

The main focus of the kick-off is to inform everyone about the mission and belief statements of Harmony.The mission statement is, “To raise awareness and encourage acceptance of diversity to create a more united and unified community. The main goal of Harmony is to get Cedar Falls High School to be more accepting of differences like religion, handicaps, race and sexual orientation.

The club has been around for awhile and successful each year. Harmony was started during the 1994-1995 school year when Langan, another retired teacher and four students went to a conference about diversity and acceptance. They were the minority, and when they returned they wanted to show that the school was proud and accepting of diversity. Ever since then they have done many presentations at conferences and AEA 7, and they have won the Waterloo Human Rights Education Award. They have also met with a group from England hoping that a partnering program could possibly begin in England.

“Harmony is a place where people come together to solve issues and problems inside and out of school,” junior She-She Bullock said.

Another thing that is promoted is to eliminate the use of slurs, demeaning, offensive or bad language around the high school.

Harmony initiates many projects throughout the year in additon to their work in promoting tollerance. One of annual project is performing community service at Country View. This gives students a chance to step out of their comfort zones and to be positive role models and employ the mission statement of Harmony.

“[ I learned] lessons on never staying in your comfort zone, but in your courage zone,” Bullock said.

After the kick-off, there are monthly morning meetings in the gym. This year’s goal is to have six to seven morning meetings throughout the year. Usually there are over 100 students that participate, and adviser Susan Langan expects no less for this year. However, she does have a few concerns.

“The biggest concern is that people don’t know what Harmony is. Most of the time people think it’s a music group,” Langan said. All students are welcome to attend the kick-off and participate throughout the year. Contact guidance counselor Susan Langan for additonal information.