By: Julia Moyer

Staff Writer

Living Our Motto (LOM)  is a new initiative at Hammond that started at the end of last school year by students and staff. Our school’s motto is “Where People are Important.” Recognizing that Hammond is a very diverse school in not only race and ethnicity but also belief systems, abilities, and more, LOM’s goal is, “ to move Hammond as close as we can to a place where that motto actually is a reality for every person who walks through our doors,” said Danielle Dunn, a staff advisor of LOM. 

Photo Credit Julia Moyer

LOM was created after student discussions occurred both within and outside of Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) about targeted bullying and judgement that has been going on within the school.  “I think overall Hammond is pretty good but there is still a little bit that is happening for certain groups. Recognizing that, we wanted to do something about it, we needed to make some changes,” Dunn said.

LOM had two work group sessions over the summer to conduct the starting steps. The first step was to create and mission statement and identify what the goals of the team were. Living Our Motto’s mission statement is 

To make everyone of how they identify themselves along with their abilities and disabilities, so that everyone feels equal and safe in order to create a diverse and welcoming community.  

Student member Sydney Finger, a current junior says,” we are still developing it so over the next couple of years it’s going to get better and better. This is the first year doing it so it’s about getting our ideas together.”

LOM has many ideas for activities to bring people together as a Hammond community and potentially reduce bullying. First are acceptance days, “a day one per month about embracing different cultures and groups,” Finger said. Some examples of acceptance days include pride day, religion day, autism awareness day, and language day. On these days, “we are going to work with teachers and just have different things going on that builds some awareness around [the focus]…so in class you might talk about different religions,” Dunn says. The ultimate goal “is to celebrate some of the richness and diversity that is here,” she adds.  

In addition to cultural awareness on acceptance days, LOM will host games at lunch. “We are all very excited about game day!,” Finger says, “different tables will have different games so people can come together and play together and that will help them bond and get to know each other.”

A student member, junior Rachel Osei says the goal of LOM is to “open more opportunities for students, grow stronger connections with teachers and students and increase the love and value for the school by students.” 

The Living Our Motto team hopes to make its goals a reality at Hammond in the coming years. More information about their initiatives will be forthcoming during Beartime on September 25th. If anyone is interested in joining, contact Ms. Dunn. LOM welcomes new members or anyone that would like to provide information and opinions to them. 

By: Ekene Ezeh

Staff Writer

On September 25th, students in Ms. DuPuis Video Production class, Ms. Lovaas’ AP US History class and Mr Livieratos’ AP Government class, are going to the Flight 93 memorial in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. On September 11th, 2001 the passengers on Flight 93 crashed the plane in a field in Pennsylvania. The terrorists hijacked the plane with the intention of crashing the flight into building. The target of the plane was unknown. To honor the bravery of the passengers, a memorial was built on the sight of crash. On September 24th, 2002, congress passed the Flight 93 National Memorial Act. To ensure that the Flight 93 memorial would be built Congress passed this act.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The memorial is very important for students to go see. Many students today grow up in a post 9/11 world and they don’t know what happened. Ms. Lovass agreed with this point saying, “At this point, my students were either newborns or not alive during September 11, 2001. When we discuss 9/11 in class, to many, it is a historical event.”

Many students today don’t have a personal connection to 9/11. Most students were not born when the attacks took place. So when 9/11 comes up in class many people just look at it like date on a timeline. But 9/11 is bigger than just a date. But what is even bigger are the passengers on Flight 93. It is a story of heroism that many people don’t get to hear. “Many students have had the ability to visit the New York memorials,” Ms. Lovaas said, “but not this memorial, even though it’s closer.” Students don’t truly hear the story of Flight 93 the way they hear the other stories about 9/11. Because of this students tend to not understand courage that these passengers had during the attacks. They don’t seem to have a full understanding of the bravery and the impact Flight 93 has on them today. But this field trip can give students a greater appreciation for the passengers and how they have affected their lives today.

9/11 may have happened eighteen years ago, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t remember those who have fallen in during 9/11. There are many ways that we as community can honor those who died during 9/11. The Flight 93 memorial field trip is one way that the men and women who died in the terrorist attacks can be honored. When asked how the victims can be honored Ms. Lovaas suggested,  “I think all people can look at what happened on Flight 93 and be inspired to make small changes in their everyday life:” She said, “small acts of kindness can go a long way to honor those who gave their lives to ensure other people were saved.” Treating others with kindness will go a long way to making our world better. If we treat people around us with respect and dignity we can not only honor the people who died in 9/11 but, prevent another attack of that magnitude from happening again.