On Thurs., Jun. 4, Mr. Russ Cramm’s Chemistry students teamed up with Mr. Gallegos and his Special Day Class to make ice cream outside of the J building in order to bring the students together.

As a father to a daughter with cerebral palsy, Cramm understood what it meant to be discriminated because of certain characteristics. Cramm decided that he could help tear down societal barriers with this ice cream lab.

“One silly thing people do is discriminate against people because of how they’re born,” Cramm said. “What I love is that you see kids tearing that apart and not letting that be significant. That’s a lot more of where we should be as people.”

As part of the Special Day Class, sophomore Luis Zavala was excited to take advantage of this opportunity. Zavala was able to go through the ice cream making process with the help of Cramm’s students.

“Mr. Gallegos told us about this about three days ago,” Zavala said. “I was excited to come because I like ice cream.”

Along with Zavala, sophomore Luis Alvarez also joined in the fun. Alvarez shared that he already knew one of the students, sophomore Mario Galvan, who was there assisting the SDC students.

“That’s my best friend,” Alvarez said. “We have P.E. together.”

Junior Ashley Cortez was one of Cramm’s chemistry student’s who assisted in the ice cream lab. Cortez was in charge of giving each kid the materials they needed.

“They don’t have the opportunities that we have so I think that they should be treated equally,” Cortez said. “We can’t even tell the difference between our class and their class when we’re all out here together.”

Another student who took part in this was sophomore Brittney Diaz. Diaz worked one-on-one with students from Mr. Gallegos’s class.

“I think that it’s nice for us to do this because many of them may just not have the chance to do this,” Diaz said. “Now is their time to shine and show everyone that they’re just like us.”

With the school year coming to a close, Downey High students work towards equality for all students. The Amigos Club, Special Day Class, and other organizations on school grounds have begun to break down barriers that were created long ago in order to make Downey High an even more welcoming campus.