The United Cultural Society — a group created to unite and educate the different cultures amongst the student body — will start next year.

Junior Tori Evans approached culinary and fashion teacher Audra Claypoole in October with a student group’s original idea, but the group had to revise their bylaws multiple times. The club was approved on Thursday, May 16.

“Originally, it was a group of us who wanted to start a Black Student Union at Prosper,” Evans said. “But then we realized that black people in Prosper experience the same discrimination and concerns that other races want to voice as well, so we thought we could kill two birds with one stone with the United Cultural Society.”

The founding students talked to Assistant Principal Dedrick Buckles, who helped them revise their initial plan to make it appeal to a broader range of students.  

“I felt that, yes, there could be a need for a black student union, but I think it would be more impactful for the entire school if we actually had a united club where it was a cultural diversity club in essence,” Buckles said. “So I asked those same students to go back and rethink their decision on just having a Black Student Union and just how can we actually embrace all races, all ethnicities, and they came back to me and stated the United Cultural Society would be the way they would like to go.”

Claypoole, the club’s sponsor, said the United Cultural Society will provide underclassmen with peers to look up to.

“It was all about student organization to bring students together and to empower students to have more opportunities within the school,” Claypoole said. “They can bounce back ideas, and then to bring together all different cultures within our student body.”

The founding members have started working on and planning activities for the next school year. Their work includes educational slideshows, posters and a broader range of events outside of school.

“A lot of community events to really spread cultural awareness,” Evans said.”It’s really a whole educational process because a lot of people don’t know anything because they don’t experience it.”

One major focus of the club is the foreign exchange portion of the student body. Members said their goal is to build stronger peer friendships with foreign students.

“We’ll spotlight their culture and background to let other students in the school know a little bit more in-depth of where they come from,” Claypoole said. “Just so that we have an idea of more information of the cultures to make them feel more welcomed and accepted.”

Junior Mikayla Brown said the club is open for everyone, but students must be open and willing to listen to achieve their goals.

“The whole process will be ironed out for next school year,” Brown said. “You can talk, but if you’re not listening, then it’s just a one-way street.”