APC

Important Dates

• April – Autism Awareness month
• Apr 22 Passover begins

DEI’s ‘24/25 planning is underway. Please share any thoughts or ideas you have with us here. This is a collaborative process; we encourage participation. It is important that a plethora of voices and ideas are heard.

We are also looking for members of our community that would like to get more involved. Do you have a student member of an equity club on campus? Would you like to help them be more successful? Consider joining the APC DEIB committee, as we are actively trying to promote our student groups on campus.
 
Please check out the new AUHSD DEIB website for many great resources and events! And follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Important Dates

• Apr 2       World Autism Awareness Day – all of April is Autism Awareness month
• Apr 9       Eid-Al-Fitr
• Apr 22     Passover begins

April is Autism Awareness Month, honoring and recognizing our fellow community members on the autism spectrum and their families. Have you heard people talk about neurodiversity? Harvard Health explains the origin of the term and application here.
 
Eid–Al–Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide because it marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. People greet each other with “Eid Mubarak,” meaning “Blessed Eid”, and with formal embraces. Sweet dishes are prepared at home and gifts are given to children and to those in need. In addition, Muslims are encouraged to forgive and seek forgiveness. Practices vary from country to country.

Please check out the new AUHSD DEIB website for many great resources and events! And follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Upcoming Important Dates:

• Women’s History Month (March)
• Disability Awareness Month (March)
• Gender Equality Month (March)
• Mar 25 Holi celebrated
• Mar 31 Easter and Trans Day of Visibility

Holi has immense religious significance for Hindus and is one of the most popular Hindu festivals celebrated with much enthusiasm and fanfare across India. Also known as The Festival of Color, in West Bengal, Assam and Tripura, it is also known as the ‘Dol jatra’ or ‘Basanta Utsav’. Traditionally celebrated in late February or early March in the Gregorian calendar, Holi marks the arrival of spring and the end of winter, coinciding with the full moon or Purnima on the evening of the Hindu month of Phalguna. It’s a time for people to come together, put aside their differences and celebrate life’s brighter moments.
 
Easter, also called Pascha or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD.
 
International Transgender Day of Visibility (often referred to as TDOV or Trans Day of Visibility) is an annual event occurring on Mar 31 dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society. Joe Biden officially proclaimed Mar 31, 2021 as a Transgender Day of Visibility, saying in part, “I call upon all Americans to join in the fight for full equality for all transgender people.” Biden was the first American president to issue a formal presidential proclamation recognizing the event. Biden issued a similar proclamation a year later, welcoming Jeopardy! contestant and local transgender woman Amy Schneider to the White House and announcing a set of measures intended to support transgender rights.
 
Please check out the new AUHSD DEIB website for many great resources and events! And follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Upcoming Important Dates:

• Women’s History Month (March)
• Disability Awareness Month (March)
• Gender Equality Month (March)
• Mar 19 Nowruz – Persian New Year
• Feb 14 – Mar 28 Lent
• Mar 25 Holi Celebrated
• Mar 31 Easter and Trans Day of Visibility

According to National Geographic, Nowruz stems from a religious holiday in Zoroastrianism dating back close to 3,000 years in Persia (now Iran), in which the coming of spring was celebrated as a triumph of good over evil. The holiday now extends into several different faiths and areas of the world.
 
Lent, in the Christian church, is a period of penitential preparation for Easter. In Western churches it begins on Ash Wednesday, six and a half weeks before Easter, and provides a 40-day period for fasting and abstinence (Sundays are excluded), in imitation of Jesus Christ’s fasting in the wilderness before he began his public ministry.
 
As we celebrate Women’s History Month let us not forget those women with disabilities who have accomplished so many things despite their disadvantages. Please check out this link to discover 7 firsts to celebrate the accomplishments of deaf women.

Please check out the new AUHSD DEIB website for many great resources and events! And follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Upcoming Important Dates:

• Women’s History Month (March)
• Disability Awareness Month (March)
• Gender Equality Month (March)
• Mar 11 Ramadan Begins
• Mar 19 Nowruz – Persian New Year
• Feb 14 – Mar 28 Lent
• Mar 25 Holi Celebrated
• Mar 31 Easter and Trans Day of Visibility

Did you know Women’s History Month began as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California?? It began as a week surrounding International Women’s Day (Mar 8 this year) to “celebrate the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America” (President Jimmy Carter). Find out more here.
 
One special woman to highlight this week is Tammy Duckworth. She is a disabled female combat veteran who is now a Senator from Illinois. Duckworth is the first Thai American woman elected to Congress, the first person born in Thailand elected to Congress, the first woman with a disability elected to Congress, the first female double amputee in the Senate, and the first senator to give birth while in office. She is the second Asian American woman to serve in the Senate, after Mazie Hirono.
 
The month of Ramadan begins at sunset on Mar 11. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (sawm), prayer, reflection, and community. A commemoration of Muhammad’s first revelation, the annual observance of Ramadan is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam and lasts twenty-nine to thirty days, from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next.

Please check out the new AUHSD DEIB website for many great resources and events! And follow us on Instagram and Facebook