Although LASA and LBJ are two schools on the same campus, there is often a lack of interaction between the two. LASA students in Diversity Council have decided to try to change that by holding events and activities to encourage diversity and communication between students of the two schools. One of the events held is the Thankful for Diversity Day potluck, a way for students to get more involved with promoting diversity across LASA and LBJ. The Thankful for Diversity Day potluck is an annual event and was held on Friday, November 22 this year.

President of Diversity Council and senior Jackie Meisel oversees the council and its operations. One of her main roles is addressing the problems brought forth by members.

“Diversity Council was created by administration a couple of years back, and we’ve actually only had a president for two years,” said Meisel. “Right now the roles of the president are basically to run the club in its entirety, which is a lot of work because it’s not really a club, it’s more like a council. I usually let members come to the table with issues that they think are present, and then I give ideas on what they can do inside the school to make that happen.”

Meisel believes in creating more interaction between students from LASA and LBJ. This issue was a large part of what motivated her to join Diversity Council.

“One of the big issues that came to Diversity Council in the past couple of years is interaction between LASA and LBJ,” Meisel said. “It was kind of crazy to us how there was no interaction between two schools with totally different demographics but [that] were on the same campus. Initially, the potluck was an idea to just get people talking to each other. We also invited every club on campus that represented a culture or some kind of minority and invited them to bring food that they felt represented their culture. ”

Senior Clarissa Melendez is secretary of Diversity Council. She believes students should be introduced to cultures that they may not know much about.

“Diversity Council’s mission statement is basically to promote diversity and inclusion across the LASA and LBJ campus,” said Melendez. “Our big events are Thankful for Diversity Day and Culture Day.”

Melendez is involved with the organization of the Thankful for Diversity Day potluck. She wanted to create a way to foster community amongst students.

“This is our second annual Thankful for Diversity Day potluck, and what we want to do is create an event where students can come and experience cultures that they may not have been exposed to,” Melendez said. “We work with a lot of other clubs to cosponsor and sign up to bring food.”

The event represented over ten different cultures through their food. Sophomore Neha Siddapureddy attended the event this year and enjoyed eating the different foods while learning new things.

“I think it’s important because you get to try and experience new things,” Siddapureddy said. “We get to learn about all these different cultures just by trying their food.”