Background
On the announcements on the first day of school, students noticed a new face introduced as the new equity liaison for the Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging department. To put a name to the face and a backstory to the name, Aaron Moon gives some insight into how he ended up here.
“Originally my background is in elementary education so I come from teaching third, fourth, and fifth grade students. I also worked two years as an auxiliary police officer at the Frederick City police department, helping communities, families, and kids,” Moon said, reflecting on his prior job experiences.“When this position came out in State College after moving here I realized that I wanted to try something different, so I interviewed and my credentials got me the position.”
For Moon, this job is an opportunity to connect his past experiences and careers into a new environment.
“It also allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and work with older kids. I’ve mentored older kids, and I’ve been a TA for high school, but I’ve never taught high school and been around them for a long time so this is a cool opportunity for me to move away from the smaller kids and work with the older kids that look towards the future,” Moon said.
How did Moon end up here?
Tonya Black the current director of the program, had some qualities in mind when hiring for Moon’s current position.
“I was looking for someone who really has a heart for students, particularly those who are underserved. Someone who students and faculty staff could connect with and who was a good listener. Someone who knows about equity in terms of how to create programs and support systems that were already working towards equity. Someone who had teaching and mentoring experience with students of various ages as well, and who would be a great collaborator to help support the work of this office, putting students and families first,” Black said.
Black found those qualities in Moon, being the person with the official say in hiring him.
“He presents as his genuine self. He has great ideas for connecting people. He is willing to continue to be a learner himself. If I share, I got this thing in my email about this profession. He wants to be involved in different aspects of our schools. He sees school as a community and is willing to work. He’s a hard worker, arrives early, stays late. He puts others and their needs first, and is highly steeped in the craft of equity, as well as continuing to learn more,” Black said.
What does Moon do?
While some students know who Moon is, many have little understanding of what he and the Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Office do within the school.
“I went to a class this morning and I actually had to break the idea down into two pieces. So I asked the students what they thought equity meant and what they thought liaison meant. The whole focus of an equity idea or word comes from equal, fair, and justice. A liaison is someone who is trying to create a bridge between the school building and the community. So as an equity liaison, my role here is ensuring that every student as well as staff member, and community member feel included in everyday activities,” Moon said.
Moon’s position was added as another full-time role, allowing the office to spread their mission more efficiently, according to Black.
“We’re going to be able to respond to and support challenges or needs more quickly. For example, if there’s a need for someone to speak with a student who filed a React report. Mr. Moon, working between the high school and both middle schools, can come in and support the React team. That’s a reactionary approach,” Black said.
Moon’s position allows him to help with the time-sensitive needs of students but also the celebrations the office is a part of, giving others in the office more time to focus on other areas of the program.
“There’s also, like when Miss Evans plans my mental health or PBIS event. Mr. Moon can be more involved in the planning and of the happy celebratory things too. Then I can, as one who serves all 7000 plus students for the home district, so more more attention to secondary. And then I, in turn, am hoping to be able to help elementary more hands-on things,” Black said.
Bringing his experiences into the school community
Throughout all the areas of the program, celebratory and serious, Moon hopes to bring his own experience and past knowledge to the job.
“All of my experiences have been assisting with families, whether that is food drives, whether that is home visits or after-school activities. The beautiful thing is that everything I’ve already done, I’m doing now, and it’s allowing students to have an individual that understands different backgrounds, and different cultures and blend them in through a community that’s seen it but maybe not seen it as much,” Moon said.
One way the program helps to spotlight underserved backgrounds, cultures, and communities is through celebrations. One of the biggest celebrations the program puts on is Lift Every Voice and Moon is excited to be a part of this event this school year.
“I’ve heard about Lift Every Voice. It sounds amazing. So the beautiful part is Lift Every Voice is something that I will be heavily involved in. It will be cool to see from someone who was in high school who did the arts of breakdancing, playing guitar, going to musical ensembles, how this will be connected with culture as well,” Moon said.
Inside and outside of the program’s celebrations Moon hopes to be a mentor for the students of State High.
“My thing is that I am an open book, students can come to me with questions and concerns and opportunities and they won’t be sent away. With an idea they shouldn’t have to fear having a conversation with me because everything we discuss would be to benefit them and the better future,” Moon said.
Moon continued on that thought, highlighting what he hopes for in his position and in turn what he can bring to the school.
“Hopefully this brings an opportunity for students to now start to seek out other opportunities that aren’t just college. As much as we want to introduce that concept to them there are many other opportunities that they can take. Where there are trade jobs, there are opportunities that don’t necessarily pertain to spending four years at university, maybe it’s just two at a community college and they find their calling, so my biggest thing is I want to help students figure out their future, no matter how old they are or what grade they are in, so they can start to work towards that, instead of feeling lost in the big world that we are already in,” Moon said.
With the excitement surrounding a new school year Moon shared what he is most looking forward to.
“I’m really excited to see if these high schoolers will destroy me in basketball,” Moon joked. “So because this is my first time being back in a high school I want to look at where my journey started. Looking at the educational courses, looking at the musical courses, I want to see how far they’ve come along. But also [I want to] see the spark in a lot of students when they do classes that speak to them, such as journalism, such as photography. I mean it’s a brand new world, a world of social media, so it’ll be interesting to see what adapted over the years with high schools.”
With Moon ready to start the year off with positivity and community, Black feels satisfied with the state of the Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging program.
“I feel very, very fortunate to have this. I feel that the programming that we have in place needed another, highly qualified, competent, passionate soul, person to help. So this year, we’re not looking to expand a ton of programming. We’re looking to affect more effectively, support what’s in place, and grow from there in terms of supporting what we have in place,” Black said. “From our MLK Day pieces, to what we hope to be able to roll out through spirit or other groups, we hope Mr. Moon can be another connector from this office to the high school and the middle schools. We really need to also develop a sense of celebrating what we have been able to do and accomplish. It’s a pretty awesome place here in the district.”
