I cannot express enough how amazing and truly wonderful it would be to have mandatory Cultural Competency Training be a part of an educator's path to leading the next successful generation of students. In my time at Arlington Public Schools, there are so many things I wish that were different. Do not get me wrong, I love all the work that I put in as a student to make a change in my school's environment and advocate for different Black and brown students like myself. However, I wish it were not my job, but the actual teachers in the classrooms, and the actual leaders of this state and country to hold themselves accountable for advocating for their students. That is what education is all about. As an alumni who has stepped out of that bubble now, I still see the potential for our Virginia education system to be more advanced, thoughtful, and better than before. 

I am currently the student body president at Lafayette College, a predominately white institution in Easton, PA, and not once have my activism efforts faltered in terms of fostering a welcoming and safe environment for the communities of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. As a matter of fact, I, myself gave CCT to our athletics department and will say it was successful to ensuring our staff learned about the issues affecting our student athletes. Whether it be about mental health, socioeconomic status, ethnicity or race, etc. - they were provided with interactive activities and discussion questions so they could critically think about the issue at hand. What I was able to see is the need for a community consciousness. This is what the state of Virigina needs. We must address all the issues pertaining to the lack of moral support and awareness people around the nation fail to have. Arlington Public Schools may be a top tier school system, but as someone who needed more teachers to be aware of the individual needs a student may have, I felt unsupported in certain ways. Yet, with CCT, there is without a doubt students like myself will feel more heard, supported, and cared for. After all, Virginia is the state for lovers and what kind of state would we be if we had no love for one another/thy neighbor?

Implementing a Cultural Competency Training requirement will help teachers become aware of their surroundings a lot more, be able to focus on meeting the students where they are at, and how to engage with local community members in need as well. This is about us creating and leading a new society. This is about what is right. This is about change. This is about us being the leading changemakers in the educational world. Change is difficult, but not impossible. Nor should it be all bad. This change is necessary for states like Virginia to move forward with a better education system in which educators can keep on learning not during their undergrad or master's work, but also while teaching. Teachers have to always keep on learning something new - every single day. So why not continue the learning with CCT?

As an educator myself, I work to educate myself every single day on the needs of my students and peers. It is no longer about just you or me, but what we can do together to be better as a whole society. We are going to be the ones demonstrating what a good educator should look like: not a punitive one, or a consciously unaware one, but rather a supportive and empowering teacher. We will be the ones taking a large stride into what reforming and reimagining a whole new education system. With CCT, we will be making a statement about our country's education. Virginia is not just a state for lovers; It's a state for firsts; It's a state for a better change.