Deptford High forms all-inclusive NAACP chapter

Students at Deptford High School have formed a chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and its founders say it's not about any one color.

"I think, to move ahead, we have to recognize that everyone is an individual and that our race or ethnicity shouldn't matter in whether we can work together," said senior Gianna De Veitro, who, with the help of school officials, got the charter last month for the chapter.

New Jersey NAACP officials say it is the first time a high school in the state will have its own chapter of the venerable civil rights organization.

The idea was fostered by Deptford School Superintendent Ralph Ross, who is white, and Board of Education vice president Rachel Green, who is black.

Both are members of the Gloucester County NAACP - Green is vice president - and thought that getting students interested would foster a growth in leadership and service in the school.

Both emphasized that they did not believe there was any problem with race relations in the school, which is 28 percent minority, primarily African American students, but also Hispanic and Asian. The two just felt they had gotten a lot out of the NAACP and thought the students would as well.

"When people hear NAACP, they often think it is just about African Americans," said De Veitro, who is black. "But our idea is to get as many people - white, Asian, mixed - to get together and do things, mostly service and community things, just to learn more about each other."

It is an ambition already being realized, with a variety of racial backgrounds represented in the chapter.

Some of the students, who held an impromptu meeting Wednesday morning in the office of their adviser, gym teacher Deb Shoemaker, said that they had experienced some bits of racial discrimination or tension, but that there were no big racial problems at Deptford High.

"But we do want to make sure nothing like that happens here," said LaTese Davis, a senior. "Sometimes we have had teachers who weren't sensitive enough, who think just because one or another ethnic group is gathered together in the halls or somewhere that they are doing something bad. We want to change that perception."

Shoemaker said she wanted the group to move toward the leadership component that the modern NAACP endorses.

She said that that was what might be lacking in the high school and that attracting 25 members already in just one month showed a desire among students to get more involved.

The members intend to work on getting new 18-year-olds in the high school to register to vote and will have a team in the annual school Relay for Life race to help raise money for cancer research.

"I think young people here at Deptford want to do more things in the community, want to do charity work, want to raise awareness of issues," Shoemaker said. "We've decided to use the NAACP chapter to do this."

Milo Utu said he immediately joined the group because, as a senior, he wanted to leave a legacy at Deptford beyond one of just being in a sport or a play.

"If we can start being the voice of the voiceless, or encourage underclassmen to not be afraid to speak out, then we will have done something in these last few months here at Deptford to last after us," Utu said. "I believe in a world where everyone lives together and is able to talk to each other."

Loretta Winters, president of the Gloucester County NAACP, is ecstatic about Deptford's being the first high school chapter in the state and feels that Utu is right, that the seniors in the group want to leave their school years having made a statement.

"It has become a very diverse school, and I think these first members want to work together to make sure there is a good future there," said Winters. "While the NAACP originally was for civil rights for African Americans, we now say 'colored people' are of all colors - white, black, red, whatever - and of all cultures, who should all be advanced.

"These young people want to make sure that happens," she said, "and that will be their legacy."