This month, Pleasant Valley’s Unite Club is covering religious tolerance. Although nationally it is Black history month Pleasant Valley has chosen to focus on Religion. Inspiring their decision was the recent events taking place in The United States. A recent proposed travel ban on seven different countries, dominantly muslim, has caused religious tension. Speaking about the discrimination taking place in the United States going on today. “It’s scary to think that you can be judged in our society today based on a singular belief you have,” says Pleasant Valley senior, Brady Bormann. Brady’s belief is one of many among the students at Pleasant Valley.
Pleasant Valley High School is religiously diverse amongst the students. Unite Club leader, Melissa Lechtenberg, described the religious tolerance by students as more accepting compared to the world outside the community. She spoke about witnessing majority a caring group of students at Pleasant Valley. However, there are few exceptions among the group. “Some jokes are made without the person realizing the significance of the impact they make on a certain group of people,” says Lechtenberg. She believes sometimes students go too far when trying to be funny. This behavior can cause more damage to some than others due to someone’s background.
To help improve the religious tolerance of the students, the Unite Club plans on releasing a video about the religious diversity of the students at Pleasant Valley. The video will be covering the different religions of the students. The video plan on helping eliminate the ignorance that causes the discrimination in our school. As well it be sharing different stories of students and their own religious backgrounds. The video aims to, “Open up the eyes of other students,” says Lechtenberg. The religious tolerance video will be shown later in the month during S.S.R in all classrooms.
