On March 8, McLean’s Student Equity Ambassador Leaders (SEALs) met with six Kent Gardens Elementary School students to discuss equity in a school environment and give the future Highlanders a tour of McLean.

“I was kind of scared at the beginning,” sixth grade Kent Gardens student Yasmine Khayo said. “But it was cool to see everything and how the high school [equity] team works. We all had fun seeing what they do and realized we actually do pretty similar things. It was nice to see what we would be able to do in the next few years.”

The meeting began with conversations on individual motivations to join their respective equity teams, problems regarding representation at school and future aspirations. While touring around the school, the group stopped by various classrooms such as the AP African American Studies class, engineering class and gym.

“With the elementary students, we introduced them to what high school is like and how they can further their equity journey by giving them inspiration and ideas,” junior SEALs member Emily Ma said.

SEALs is a team composed of both students and faculty members, created with a goal to promote equity and diversity at McLean. The meeting was a culmination of weeks of preparation and anticipation.

“We’ve been preparing for this meeting since last month. We had the idea since the beginning of the school year, but we didn’t know how feasible it would be, so we were very excited to finally meet them,” senior SEALs representative Saira Uttamchandani said.

Preparation for the Kent Gardens students was also an exciting process.

“To prepare for the meeting, we wrote questions and answers to [potential] questions they had for us,” Khayo said. “We decided to wear our team T-Shirts saying ‘I belong.’”

SEALs meet every month to work on projects ranging from school bulletin boards to collaboration with student clubs. The team also collaborates across the county under the lead of the FCPS equity office.

“Our goal is to discuss problems students face and how we can address them,” Ma said. “Every month is a different representation month, and we decorate the school bulletin boards for each. For example, this month is women’s history month, and last month was Black History Month.”

The Kent Gardens Equity Team works on similar projects at their school level.

“This year, we read books to younger grades to let them know about different cultures, religions and races. On Martin Luther King Day we read them books about MLK,” Khayo said. “We also make posters to hang around the school. We have meetings every month to prepare for different history months.”

The meeting was rewarding for both sides of the interaction.

“We talked a lot about their goals with their own equity team and their motivations,” Ma said. “It was also very inspiring for us as a team to know that we had similar goals and methods of involvement.”

Excited students are hoping for potential future collaborations.

“I definitely want the high schoolers to come to Kent Gardens in the future and see what it’s like for us,” Khayo said. “When I come to McLean, I think I’ll definitely join the equity team again.”