A total of 1,600 students gathered in Anaheim, California for the annual Student Diversity Leadership Conference from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.

This year, six of our own students had the opportunity to attend SDLC and meet fellow teens with similar backgrounds. SDLC creates a safe environment for minority high school students to explore their diversity, sharing their thoughts with one another. Participants listened to speakers and experts on the importance of their culture.

“It was an amazing experience, I got to meet all kinds of kids from a variety of religions, ethnicities, and sexual orientations and realized that we all experience the same things as minorities in high school,” said senior Isaiah Manasara.

Students were divided into groups which were either “family groups” or at other times “affinity groups.” Family groups were made up of students from different schools, discussing the different ways a person can identify, i.e., through gender, race, age, religion, or sexual orientation. Affinity groups were assigned based on ethnicity, allowing students the chance to express their feelings and experiences.

“Being in my affinity group was probably the best part of the entire conference, being surrounded by other people in the same situation as me made me feel so much more accepted,” said senior David- Jason Guillou.

SDLC offered participants a sense of belonging for one weekend that will follow them throughout their lives.