JJ’s List is a organization that helps companies and  schools around Chicago, Illinois learn how to communicate with disabled people. Many JJ List ‘troops’ go to schools and try to break the stigmas between an abled person and a disabled person by presenting scenarios which will be demonstrated on April 1st on solidarity day.

One of the prominent members of JJ’s List, Tricia, has been working for many organizations dealing with disabilities such as downs syndrome since her daughter was diagnosed. Tricia feels that in order to become a disability trainer, “you have to be passionate about it, and understand what it takes to be successful with employment and finding a job, but it takes tremendous passion.”

JJ’S List caters to a wide variety of disabilities such as “down syndrome, people on the autism spectrum, and people with learning disabilities.” The students that attend this workshop on solidarity day will be heavily impacted by what Tricia and JJ’s list have to teach to create a closer community.

As for the behind the scenes of what solidarity day will be like, Mr. Knoth has been working tirelessly on making Loyola Academy’s students more aware of the world surrounding them. This year’s theme for solidarity day is technology. Mr. Knoth found this theme to be more relatable to the average student since they are constantly exposed to their iPads. Ever since last year, Mr. Knoth has received a lot of feedback and this year solidarity day has been changed from meetings (not heavily advertised to the students) to an entire day dedicated to expanding awareness on multiple topics.

“The hardest part of all of it is the follow up… that it is not just one day your exposed to a bunch of [topics] but to find ways to get a reflection piece and focus on this,” said Mr. Knoth. He wants solidarity day to become a tradition at Loyola Academy and for it to actually impact students. “I hope that everyone has one take away from one workshop.”

Another topic that Mr. Knoth wanted to highlight in order for students to be more excited was the film festival they will be holding during that day. The films are made by students in the service learning classes. Mr. Knoth also had over 50 people helping him put solidarity day together which included the Loyola Academy service team.

One of the most crucial parts for solidarity day is Loyola Academy’s service team. Mr. Knoth has had multiple meetings with the directors of service and service learning classes to bring together ideas from students. One director, Annie Kotowski, said, “we are meeting every week, discussing organization, and planning the project… we are also planning the keynote speakers.” Annie and several other directors were tasked to allot times for the keynote speakers and a lot of the feedback Mr. Knoth received was from the service team.

Giulia DiPasquale, a senior at Loyola Academy, is currently working on a capstone project with her service learning class. “Everything has been leading up to solidarity day for my classes, especially my service learning class…we are finishing up a project which will be showcased on solidarity day.”

April 1st has will be a day to mark down in Loyola Academy history. Many students are working hard on capstone projects, documentaries, and overall organizing the event. Solidarity day has been months in the making and with Loyola Academy’s dedicated faculty and student body, Solidarity will have a long lasting impact.