On Wednesday, March 30th in the Townsend Residential Life Center, three RAs held a “Safezone” training session. Safeezone is a program aiming to inform students about the issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, as well as create a safe place for LGBT youth. Each Stockton student who attended was given a Safezone sign to hang on their door knob, letting other students know that, if they needed it, help was available. Each will also receive a certificate stating that they are Safezone certified in the future.
The program was extremely informative. From 8pm to 10pm, about ten other students and I took part in many activities, including watching videos and matching LGBT terminology with definitions. We also were read anti-LGBT or offensive statements and asked to group ourselves based on how confident we were that we could provide a calm, informative answer. The training stressed this point in particular, making sure we knew that, in order to make real change, LGBT advocates must be calm, level-headed, and informed.
As a future high-school teacher, I thought becoming Safezone certified was incredibly important. High school is a crucial time for LGBT youth, who are often just coming to terms with their sexuality and gender. Teenagers can be cruel sometimes, and it’s important that LGBT teens know they are loved and appreciated, and that they have a safe place to go to if they need help. I really enjoyed being Safezone trained, and I hope Education Majors at Stockton take the time to get certified, too!