A Cultural Collage: A themed issue highlighting the cultural backgrounds and unique experiences of some of the 16% of East students that are part of cultural minority groups

Dear students, staff and community members,

Shawnee Mission East is a unique place with diverse stories throughout our school. With 1,654 students in our Columbia blue halls, there are 1,654 unique stories to tell.

As a predominantly-white school, it’s important to share the stories of students and staff members who often don’t get to share theirs. That’s the goal of this special issue: highlight the stories of our classmates’ diverse cultures that aren’t told as often while unveiling issues of microaggressions and lack of cultural awareness. 

16% of our student population, just 270 students, is minoritized. 

This issue of the Harbinger is dedicated to creating an open discussion about race, ethnicity and diversity at East — free from marginalization, stereotyping and prejudice. When we strip back these things, we get a more compassionate understanding of human experiences. Creating this special section presented its own unique challenges. We tried to include as many different diverse stories as possible in 28 short pages while wholly acknowledging that only a fraction of the cultural experiences within East are represented in this issue.

There’s so much more to learn.

We hope that this special section encourages readers to listen to their classmates, ask purposeful questions and seek opportunities to learn about different ethnicities, races and cultures. This isn’t a solution to ever-prevalent issues of racism and discrimination in our community, but we hope to increase empathy for students of all backgrounds through journalism.

So this is what we ask of you as a reader: enjoy learning about others’ cultural experiences and be brave enough to share your own.

Then, and only then, can we begin to create a truly understanding and inclusive environment at East.