Fourth graders at Daly Elementary School in Port Washington are learning to be proud of the things that make them different. Every fourth-grade class participated in the “Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It: Celebrating a World of Differences” program, designed to encourage students to openly discuss something about themselves that makes them different from others.
Whether blatant or invisible, students are taught to flaunt their differences rather than feel uncomfortable about them and ultimately celebrate what makes them unique.
Meg Zucker, founder of Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It, recently visited Daly fourth-grade classrooms to flaunt her own difference (Zucker was born without fingers on both hands) and how she has turned what some may view as a negative into a positive. Students were given the opportunity to flaunt a difference of their own, whether visible or something they have kept to themselves.
One student shared how the program helped her overcome insecurity with her height, prompting her to be proud of her physical appearance and wear more comfortable flats. Another student shared how getting left back in school initially made him feel embarrassed, but he was able to make new friends and later excel in the classroom.
Prior to Zucker meeting with Daly fourth graders, school guidance counselor Casey Horowitz conducted lessons in which several students wrote essays that were submitted to the “Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It” essay contest. Ian Laurence in Nancy Flynn’s class won second place for his essay about the difficulties of adjusting to a new school after attending school in another country.
