Anyone who has been watching some of the latest news and has noticed cases of bullying due to reasons such as sexual orientation may assume that schools are not providing a safe environment for all students. However, some local students and staff do not agree that this is the case here.

The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgenders (LGBT) community also includes queer/questioning and those who support LGBT. Many students and staff here promote individuality, instead of adhering to societal norms.

According to senior Ryan Lazaro, when he came here he was already openly gay and he felt accepted for who he was.

Although Lazaro has felt great about his time here, he did face a situation once that caused him to question whether or not he felt safe at school.

According to Lazaro, this year his computer broke after someone kicked him in the back, teasing him about his sexual orientation passive aggressively. For him, it was not a big deal, but it was impactful.

While Lazaro has had some conflict with other people related to his sexual orientation, he has also had relationships with people he could rely on.

According to Lazaro, he knew a lot of people from middle school who helped him feel comfortable after coming out.

Many kids experience or take part in some form of bullying. For Lazaro, however, many of his friends and teachers have prevented those kinds of things from happening to him. Thus, helping him feel safer at the school. For example, English teacher Ed Sage has specified that in his classroom, no one is allowed to make any racist, homophobic or discriminatory comments, which has provided support for Lazaro.

This does not only apply to students and staff who are homosexual. Senior Maevis identifies as genderqueer, but has experienced some side comments here and there.

According to Maevis, people do not understand that she does not have to be labeled as a certain gender to fit in, but she feels although she can be happy because she can finally be herself.

In a way, when people feel like they can be themselves, they also feel safe in their environment. Maevis’ experience simply justifies that one can feel safe and happy here by showing that one can find other friends if need be.

According to Emery Olson, the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) advisor, some people try to place others inside boxes because they have a misunderstanding of who someone is. The thing is, once they put someone in a category, they instantly stereotype them which can prove to be untrue.

Although this may lead to bullying, Lazaro  and other staff members have taken great lengths to provide a space where students can feel safe at school, like the GSA club.

Aside from the GSA club, some students still feel comfortable enough to be themselves.

According to junior and lesbian Ali Robirts, she deals with some unacceptance here and there, but it does not affect her deeply. She is finally able to relax in her own skin which makes up for all of the dirty looks and side comments.

While students yawn and sit in their health classes watching yet another video on preventing bullying, individuals like Lazaro, Maevis, Olson and Robirts are taking the initiative to stand up for each other. Eventually, if enough people start standing as an individual, it will start a chain of equality that could perhaps spread throughout the entirety of the school. All it takes are several brave souls to stand up to make what they believe in a reality.

In all, kids in high school can feel like they are unsafe due to intimidation. Staff and other students have made it so that if one needed help, they would be there. Whether it be because they have been through bullying themselves or if they want to prevent it from ever happening, people are there for each other here. All it takes is some reaching out, and perhaps then everyone can feel safe.