A social justice meeting was held for students to communicate with one another in order to get an understanding of unity. A total of 20 students participated in the first group discussion on Oct. 3 and were selected to voice their opinions about social issues going on at Pattonville. Students were also given an opportunity to express their feelings and were able to come together as a whole to develop ideas to make Pattonville a better and safer learning environment.

Each student was able to connect through a variety of deep conversations and activities.

“We were challenged to step outside our comfort zones by voicing our opinions in an assertive style,” Kaleb Eleby said.

Being able to have a variety of deep conversations in a facetious manner made it easier to understand other people’s perspectives on social issues in and outside of Pattonville.

“I learned how to effectively communicate with people who are not my skin color as well as my skin color in order to get my opinions across without being ignorant,” Summer Davis said.

The students did a lot during the 3-hour meeting.

“We accomplished a lot through various techniques like problem-solving, critical thinking, advocacy, and most importantly communication,” Eleby said.

This experience gave the students an understanding of other ethnicities in social issues.

“I felt like this experience really helped me talk about the difficult situations and understand where other people come from,” Davis said.