Adelaide Fitton

Kuljot Singh and Maansi Budapanahalli run a meeting of the Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) board. DEI meets once a month.

  The Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) board at Grand Ledge High School (GLHS) works to raise awareness about issues that affect the minority groups at GLHS. DEI includes multiple clubs at GLHS including Asian American Student Union (AASU), Black Student Union (BSU), Diversity Club, GSA (Gender Sexuality Alliance), Hispanic and Latino Student Union (HLSU) and Women’s Equality. 

  The president of the DEI club is Kuljot Singh, the vice president is Maansi Budapanahalli, and the teacher advisor is Ms. Taylor. It was founded by Kuljot Singh and Aadhtiya Sudhakar last school year.

  Elena Solorzano is the president of HLSU, which is a part of the diversity equity and inclusion club at GLHS. Solorzano moved to the Grand Ledge area last school year and was disappointed in the representation that she saw for Hispanic students at GLHS; the result was the creation of HLSU. 

  “I came here and people just told me ‘just go to AASU’ and I just don’t want to do that, I want to go where I find people that know about my culture or who want to know about my culture so I started it (HLSU),” Solorzano said. 

  Kuljot Singh is both a board member of AASU and president of DEI. Last year Singh along with Aadhtiya Sudhakar looked to make a difference in our school system by founding DEI as an initiative for change.

 “We’re bringing all of these groups with smaller percentages together to form a bigger group that can have a bigger voice, and we are bringing different things into the school that can improve it for us,” Singh said. 

  Grand Ledge High School is 77.5% white, 8.5% Hispanic, 5.3% Two or More Races, 4.4% Black, 4.0% Asian, 0.4% American Indian/Alaska Native, and 0.1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.  

  Last year, DEI used its voice to create change through the student reporting form that was revamped. This form is meant to be a safe means to report concerns that need to be addressed in order to meet the goal of a safe and welcoming environment. 

 “Before if someone put a report in, usually they didn’t know, it never got back to them, they never knew what happened as a result so it just felt like you were trying to do something and getting nothing in return. But now there is actually a follow-up on it and you can see what the results are. You can see the actual change that you have put the effort in to make,” Singh said.