Civic Club Highlight - Newport

The first club that we will be keeping up with is Newport High School Civics Club!

Firstly, Newport civic club has decided to do a monthly system, in which there would be one topic per month, and biweekly meetings. The first meeting of the month would mainly be discussion, and learning about the topic, while the second meeting of the month will be some sort of action item to make change. The first two meetings of the civics club at Newport have gone smoothly, and the first monthly topic was social justice.

Newport civics club believes social justice to be an important topic, especially in light of the pandemic, and how Black Americans have been able to powerfully speak their voice vigorously over the past couple of months. Eric Han, one of the co-presidents of the civics club at Newport explained that, “the definition of social justice is very vague, and encompasses a huge array of topics, including feminism, civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and much more. A lot of the change made in America is due to people questioning inequalities and seeking to make a change.” It is evident that social justice is a topic that is very vital to the spirit of America, and has allowed us to become the diversity-celebrating America we are.

Newport decided to incorporate this topic by having a discussion for the first meeting of the month. The discussion would be formatted so that the overall club would split into two groups, and discuss the questions. The discussion included questions such as, “what does a socially just society look like,” “have you experienced social injustice before,” and “what social justice organizations would you be willing to support.” The discussion allowed members to discuss their personal experience with social justice, what they believe regarding social justice, and what type of change they want to see through social justice.

At the second meeting of the month, the Newport civics club held a more hands-on activity related to social justice. This activity involved club members actively supporting local, preferably minority-owned businesses. In the face of the pandemic, local businesses have been struggling particularly, and especially minority-owned local businesses. A strong way that many people have been helping on social media has been spreading awareness to businesses to support. For example, people on social media have been making posts that list black-owned local businesses to support, LGBTQ+ businesses to support, etc. Newport civics club wanted to incorporate this concept by making their members do something similar. For the second meeting, the Newport civics club had members split into three various channels and had each member research a local business to support. The research for each group was then compiled and combined into a post on the @nhs.civicengagement Instagram page. By doing this, club members would be able to take an active part in the club Instagram by raising awareness for local businesses to support.

Overall, Newport’s civics club’s first two meetings have gone smoothly, and they are excited to discuss the topic for the next month, which will be on elections.

Club Instagram: @nhs.civicengagement

Written by Megan Yi