On Jan. 14, presidents and several officers of Calhoun High School’s newly formed Racial Equity Club partnered up with English as a New Language teacher Ms. Moser from Old Mill Road Elementary School in the North Merrick School District
to present lessons to several classes of elementary school students.

Students Joan Mesy, Eden Gould-Anderson, Maeva Exius and Izabella Mra organized lesson plans for grades one through four and virtually taught the students.

Kindergarten through first grade students were presented with the book, “It's Okay to Be Different” by Todd Parr.

“This story focused on becoming aware of our differences and glorifying them. After reading the story, REC officers asked the students questions to get them thinking about how they treat others,” explained teacher and faculty adviser, Heather Glick. “Officers then went over ways to address people’s differences appropriately.”

Children in first and third grades were given a presentation that was centered around the book “The Skin You Live In” by Michael Tyler.

“This lesson plan was focused on helping kids become aware of the differences in everyone’s skin, and to push kids to remember that even with these differences, everyone deserves to be treated equally,” explained Glick. “The REC officers felt that these lesson plans were the perfect way to make students aware of their differences and the differences of their peers. The motivation for these lessons came from discussions between REC officers which included the realization that it's best to begin teaching students at the youngest age about racism and racial issues.”