Photograph by Paul Myers

Ashley Caldwell (left) and Asha Shivaji, both 18, are the two Los Gatos High School seniors who co-chair Congressman Mike Honda's newly formed student advisory committee.

Student committee looking at diversity and tolerance

By Rebecca Ray

Three Los Gatos High School seniors are doing something that could affect the nation. The students, Ashley Caldwell, Maggie Fitzgerald and Asha Shivaji, belong to Congressman Mike Honda's student advisory committee. The committee, which formed at the beginning of the school year, includes some 25 high school sophomores, juniors and seniors from District 15 who are working on ways to promote diversity and tolerance in high schools.

"Usually, when you're involved in clubs in high school, it's just your close community or just your school, and this is kind of giving us a bigger outlook," Shivaji said. Shivaji and Caldwell, both 18, co-chair the committee.

In addition to the committee potentially having nationwide influence, Shivaji says she finds it interesting that members can use the Library of Congress website to do research. Committee members are researching how to best promote diversity and tolerance in high schools, which could include asking Honda to draft a bill. As part of their research, they plan to survey local schools and talk to professors and others. The committee also plans to examine the effectiveness of current high school programs that strive to promote diversity and tolerance and to encourage local high schools to continue the programs that work best, Shivaji said.

Caldwell, Fitzgerald and Shivaji learned about the committee at the beginning of the school year in their history classes. The teachers provided forms, that asked applicants what they could bring to the committee and what their opinions were on various issues.

The form also asked applicants to list topics that they thought were important to the community. After members of Honda's staff chose committee members, the committee met and decided to focus on education. As students, Shivaji said, they felt like they had the best ideas as to what worked well in education and what did not. After Sept. 11, the committee narrowed the focus to diversity and tolerance in education. Caldwell says she thinks the group would have narrowed the focus to diversity and tolerance regardless of Sept. 11 because of the group's diversity.

"Going to Los Gatos, we don't have nearly the diversity that we have on the committee," Shivaji said. "There's all different people, all different backgrounds. I just love going there and listening to what everybody has to say. Our perspectives are all so different."

In addition to promoting diversity and tolerance, committee members look for events to help them broaden their understanding of diversity and tolerance. The committee plans to watch a movie about diversity and tolerance, probably the 1977 TV miniseries Roots, which is about racism and slavery, Shivaji said. Members also hope to attend events that other schools host to promote diversity and tolerance.

Honda, a former public high school science teacher and principal, started a committee to maintain dialogue with schools, said Ernest Baynard, Honda's communications director. Although Honda has not yet attended a committee meeting, committee members have interacted with him. Honda accompanied them to an event called "Appetizer Crawl," where they visited restaurants and tasted food from different cultures. Another time, Honda and a few committee members sampled American food by eating at Johnny Rockets.

Caldwell, who is considering a career in law, says that what she likes most about the committee is working and interacting with other teenagers who are passionate about politics.

Shivaji says she also enjoys the committee because she's always been interested in government. "I think to have the opportunity to work with someone like Congressman Honda," she said.

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