Can We Talk means more to its members than clubs usually do. It provides a venue for students to de-stress and discuss important issues. For many students this club might not sound familiar because last year this club was known as Courageous Conversations.

Since Courageous Conversations was a name used by Glenn E. Singleton the founder of Courageous Conversations, who’s intended mission was to provide guidance towards under served students of the African American population, the club’s name had to be changed.

“We went to Can We Talk in order to receive grants, and for copyright purposes we had to change the name,” said Can We Talk advisor Charles Thomas.

    CWT meets every Thursday during seminar in room 152.
This year Can We Talk plans to take field trips to Kansas City’s Negro League, jazz and baseball museums, visit local college campuses, and interact with LHS’s “Can We Talk” group, along with projects.

“This year [the club] will definitely get more involved with the community, going to agricultural museums, doing community service and doing more activities outside [the school],” said junior Allyson Jordan.

During club meetings, students have important discussions about matters that eventually reach everyone in the group.

“During our last meeting, one of the teachers here, Mrs. Hunt, was talking about her childhood and how it was different from mine or a person of Caucasian race, and we talked about different things like sex, and how the world views women as inferior to men and men superior to women,” junior Raven Graves said.

This club is important in the eyes of many students because it’s a chance for them to really open up with one another about relationships, teen emergencies, religion, race and their different backgrounds.

“If you have a problem with a teacher you can discuss it, or if you have a problem with your friends, you can come to this group and bounce ideas off a lot of other people. You can always get a lot of feedback from different types of people,” Green said.

“In a way [Can we talk] can bring up your confidence because you might see that it’s not as hard for you. At the same time it’s good because you can realize that other people might need help or maybe a smile doesn’t hurt, it’s good for anyone,” senior Ashleigh Lottinville said.

An issue that students may note is a change in membership. Last year Courageous Conversations seemed to be a club mainly for minority-group males, but this year the club’s include females all races.

“What had happened was last year we didn’t have a female to run it as a facilitator for the group so that’s why we had more men than women. As far as the organization starting we got a lot of calls about the subject, so that’s when we decided to let females in, but this year we have three female faculty, Ms. Newlin, Ms. Karakas, and Ms. Hunt, they are going to be running the female portion of it,” Thomas said.

    The next ‘Can We Talk’ meeting is Thursday, October 7, in room 152, and anyone is welcome and encouraged to join.