Senior and Pride Club President Isa Romero sits in Room 306 on Nov. 4 in front of a wall of artwork and a pride flag. According to Romero, Pride Club has been able to gather students together to create a tightly-knit group. “(Pride Club has) given people friends within the community. If you don’t know people within the community, then it can be really hard. Just having people around you who are confident in their identity and want to get to know you is really helpful,” Romero said. Photo by Aza Khan
Pride Club at CCHS seeks to offer a space for LGBTQ students to build community and educate the CCHS student body.
While other clubs at Clarke Central High School may sit students through presentations and information, Pride Club situates them with scissors, shrinky-dink paper and a sense of community.
Club meetings are held every Monday in Room 306 and are comparable to an art class. They focus on creating space for discussion and self-expression, offering an inclusionary space for club members to learn and explore ways to illustrate themselves through creative expression.
Members of the Pride Club work on crafts at a club meeting on Nov. 1. The club focuses on creating a welcoming space and encouraging members to express themselves creatively. “Creating art in itself helps people express themselves, and working on creative projects can help build teamwork and collaboration,” Senior and Pride Club President Isa Romero said. Photo by Aza Khan
However, in addition to art and community, after noticing several misconceptions about the LGBTQ community within both CCHS and Pride Club itself, the club has started to focus on education.
“Because people don’t understand different identities or pronouns, they tend to reject it,” Romero said. “Beyond that, within the community, there needs to be education for issues like how to feel comfortable with your identity, how to form a supportive community, and how we can use art as an outlet for internal struggles. These are all things that typically won’t be addressed by your school or friends- we want to hopefully facilitate that.”
According to Romero, going forward, the club is working to incorporate educational advocacy into their club mission. They are currently working on compiling a list of books with LBGTQ representation for the library to stock, and after that, creating informative posters to hang around the school.
“Within the community, there needs to be education for issues like how to feel comfortable with your identity, how to form a supportive community, and how we can use art as an outlet for internal struggles.”
— Isa Romero,
Pride Club President and senior
“People felt like there was a lack of education about labels or what’s acceptable to ask someone or how to express yourself or how to be proud of who you are, that type of stuff, (and) people at school don’t really have access to get information on that,” Romero said. “I think the main reason people will discriminate is just because of a lack of understanding. So we wanted to provide people with answers (and) provide that understanding to prevent people from being ostracized in school.”
To fine arts department teacher and Pride Club sponsor Amanda Price, Pride Club is an area where students of LGBTQ identities, along with anyone else, can come together as a community.
“(Pride Club) gives kids a chance to (interact with) people who share their sexuality or their views of the world and just have conversations,” Price said. “It all comes back to that idea of acceptance, and value and love and community.”
Romero, along with senior and Vice President Anna Robinson, founded the club in the 2021-22 school year after recognizing a lack of LGBTQ meeting spaces at CCHS.
“If (students) do need someone to talk to, they know that there are people here that might have gone through the same thing as them,” Robinson said. “It’s not the same as going and talking to your counselor and advisor, knowing that they’re older, and they probably aren’t going through the same things that you are.”
A collection of zines, small booklets capturing one theme shown through accumulated artworks, are shown on Nov. 1 during the weekly Pride Club meeting. The Pride Club meets in Price’s room every Monday and has allowed LGBTQ students to express themselves. “(Pride Club has) provided a sense of community for LGBTQ students. And I don’t want to downplay that. In and of itself that’s really important,” Price said. Photos by Aza Khan
Romero has hopes for creating a space for sharing and learning about LGBTQ issues, such as struggles with identity and ostracism.
“The homophobia at this school, while mitigated by many welcoming and wonderful people, is undeniable. There are designated safe spaces around the school in various classrooms, but it’s important to not only feel safe but also celebrated. Young queer people want to be encouraged and seen for who they are,” Romero said.
“It’s important to not only feel safe but also celebrated. Young queer people want to be encouraged and seen for who they are.”
— Isa Romero,
Pride Club President and senior
Romero aims to solidify Pride Club at CCHS and create a CCHS organization that will continue to meet beyond the 2021-22 school year.
“I hope that when I graduate, people will want to continue (Pride Club). And I hope that eventually, we can shift into having both educational projects and also sharing experiences with each other,” Romero said. “The group has been really different every time, every club meeting. It’s hard to build trust when (the group) is not as consistent, but my hope (would be) that it gets consistent people to build trust and make a lot of friends.”
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