The Social Justice Clubs are one of the largest organizations at Farmington High School (FHS). It consists of 11 different clubs that focus on advocacy, awareness, and social justice.
The Social Justice Club was started in March of 2016. During an FHS basketball game, FHS students started a chant that demeaned the other teams perceived socioeconomic status. Two FHS students felt the incident was not reflective of the wider FHS community and started the Social Justice Club as a result. The creation of the Social Justice Club led to other clubs being created under the overall branch of Social Justice. Clubs like Asian American Student Union, Mental Health Awareness Club, Jewish Student Union, and many more aim to create places of connection for students, as well as nurture understanding and celebration of diversity in the wider school community. Since 2017, students from these clubs have led Social Justice Week.
Principal Russell Crist has been a part of Social Justice week since the beginning. Crist serves as the Principal of FHS now, but he was the director of student activities and the basketball coach at the game that sparked the movement.
“SJW (Social Justice Week) and events like it are important to our school community because they support the idea that, as a community, we believe in the importance of recognizing the individual identities of all of our students along with the power of our community as a whole,” shared Crist.
The Social Justice Clubs are Mental Health Awareness Club (MHA), Multicultural Student Union (MSCU), Feminism Club (BRAVE), Black Student Union (BSU), Jewish Student Union (JSU), Indian Student Union (ISU), Asian American Student Union (AASU), Muslim Student Union (MSU), Latinx Culture Club, The Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA), and Social Justice Club.
Each of these clubs appoints representatives for the Social Justice Council. The Council is a group of dedicated student leaders that represent the interests of their clubs. The Council collaborates on various events throughout the school year, such as helping plan and present at the Youth Empowerment Symposium at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) this past December. The Council spends months planning for their biggest event of the year: Social Justice Week.
Social Justice Week refers to the weeklong Social Justice presentations that take place in March each year. Presentations are held in the Black Box Theatre, FHS’ state of the art performance space. Presentations span a variety of topics, focusing on awareness for specific groups or educating the audience on discriminatory behavior. Past presentations have included topics such as ‘The N Word’. This presentation was run by BSU and focused on the issue of using derogatory language towards marginalized groups. Some presentations focus on broader issues. For the upcoming 2026 Social Justice Week, BRAVE and the GSA are running the presentation ‘Stereotypes Within Modern Media and Pop Culture’, which will focus on how the media influences public perception and how it hinders or advances Social Justice.
Social Justice Week is supported by co-advisors Chris Loomis and Jessica Lynn-Johnson. Mr. Loomis serves as a Counselor and the Director of Student Activities, while Mrs. Johnson is the Library and Media specialist.
“Social Justice Week represents so many cultures, identities, abilities, and is what makes FHS so special. When you zoom out to look at all of the students that work on the presentations and present, it truly represents the FHS school and community. Not every student that attends a presentation may agree with everything being shared, but the ability of our student body to listen and learn a new perspective from their peers is inspiring,” shared Loomis.
Social Justice Week prides itself on being a student-led initiative, where students have the autonomy to decide what presentations will be shown. The program thrives due to student participation.
“Now in its 10th year, Social Justice Week at Farmington High School is a student-led initiative focused on fostering critical thinking and civil discourse. A cornerstone of the program is the commitment to student designed and delivered presentations, requiring significant research and preparation to facilitate respectful discussions on complex topics,” reflected Loomis.
The Social Justice Council finalizes the presentation topics for the year, aiming for a diverse mix of presentation topics that represent different clubs and communities. At a Social Justice wide meeting, students have the opportunity to assign themselves to the presentations they wish to work on. Each presentation is overseen by a council member. Students divide up researching, curating the slides, and presenting between their group.
“This will be my sixth year at FHS and my fifth year being involved with Social Justice. Each year I am in awe of our student presenters; their poise, knowledge, integrity, and courage is extraordinary. I am a better person for having the honor to work alongside them,”shared Johnson, “Each student presenter works tirelessly towards the goal of crafting a presentation that pushes everyone in the room to either question their thinking, push their understanding or inspire them to make change.”
The Social Justice Clubs are always open for any new members who want to get involved, even if students have never participated in Social Justice activities before. Students are always encouraged to create their own club if one does not currently exist.
“Students who are new to Social Justice might find their values align with those of a club or they share similar experiences to our presenters. Many times students stay to talk to our presenters and our Social Justice Community grows,” said Johnson.
Social Justice Week this year will run from March 9th to March 13th. The week will feature 25 presentations from the Social Justice Clubs in the Black Box Theater. Students and faculty are encouraged to attend to broaden their perspectives.
