In the early weeks of March the sophomore class took a field trip to the Chicago Cultural Center’s “Protest Banner Lending Library,” where students split up into groups and created banners of their own. The walls of the library contained banners made out of a variety of fabrics in bright colors. Letters cut out of felt were glued on in patterns forming such images as the American flag and a map of the world, or saying “Not My President” or “No Ban, No Wall.”

Head of Civic Engagement Shanti Elliott had planned the field trip in an effort to engage sophomores civically and to teach them to be proactive. The trip began with an introduction to the Library’s purpose–to be “a space for people to gain skills to learn to make their own banners, a communal sewing space where we support each other’s voices, and a place where people can check out handmade banners to use in protests.”

The founder of the Library, Aram Han Sifuentes, rented a space in the Chicago Cultural Center to begin her library when she was “feeling hopeless” after the recent presidential election. After constructing around a dozen posters, the sophomores discussed their experience while munching on grilled cheese sandwiches from Cheesie’s in Millennium Park.

Shortly afterwards, an article was published in the “Chicago City Wire,” a traditionally conservative paper, about an unnamed parent of a Parker sophomore who’d complained to the paper about his or her child’s experience on the trip. The Parker parent had chosen to remain anonymous because, according to “Chicago City Wire,” she did not want to “face the backlash from other parents and students.”

In the article, the parent states that she was informed about the trip beforehand but not about the political agenda of the destination. The parent also points out that students who had conflicting political views to those of the banner library would not feel comfortable voicing their opinions in that environment.

A couple of weeks after the visit, the sophomore class had a discussion about the trip with their grade heads, upper school Math teacher Victoria Lee and upper school History teacher and co-chair Andrew Bigelow. Some sophomores expressed that the Library was not a safe environment for students to express opposing opinions.

“On that trip I really liked the idea of voicing your opinion through art,” sophomore Grace Chang said, “but at the same time, when someone with a conservative view sees posters promoting anti-Trump or f*** Trump, then they would think, ‘Well I’m obviously not welcome here.’”

Other sophomores expressed similar opinions to Chang’s. “In terms of ways we can improve,” sophomore Zen Lynch said, “I think that we should have been prepped beforehand on the political environment there as well as what we would really like to put on our posters so our groups could have been effective.”

In response to such notions, Elliott said that it is important for the Parker community to “look beyond just conservative or liberal, or Democrat and Republican.” “The school has a responsibility for all students to feel safe,” Elliott said, “but we do not have a responsibility for all students to feel comfortable, and it can be a little bit tricky.”