Dublin Student Raises $9,000 To Celebrate Diversity

DUBLIN, CA — A Dublin High School student has raised $9,000 in an effort to create a scholarship program and provide her peers with T-shirts celebrating diversity and unity.

Acacia Tripplett, DHS diversity ambassador, said during a Dublin Unified School District board meeting this week that she was spurred to act as she looked around and saw a world that viewed differences as cause for division. She recalled attending a Golden State Warriors game and seeing a sea of T-shirts placed on fans' seats — a symbol of unity in their goal to watch Steph Curry score a three-pointer.

"We were all different genders, races and ages," she said. "But that didn't matter."

Tripplett hopes to raise $14,000 to give a T-shirt to every student and teacher at Dublin and Valley high schools. She also hopes to sell them to the community and use proceeds to fund a scholarship program for seniors ready to head out into the world and advocate for diversity and inclusion, far and wide.

The front of the shirts say "Our Dublin" and feature raised fists of different skin tones. The back of the shirt features a quote from acclaimed book "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas: "Your voices matter, your dreams matter, your lives matter. Be the roses that grow in the concrete."

The quote is a reminder that all are valuable and can blossom amid hardship, Tripplett told Patch. The raised fists design is one that has long been on Tripplett's heart. The "Our Dublin" wording seeks to uplift the community and show its resilience, she said.

"This is what Dublin is about," she said. "We're all really responsible for diversity and uplifting diversity, and unity."

Tripplett said that the initiative comes at a time when racial issues are front and center, and people have never been so physically separated from one another due to the pandemic. It's critical to celebrate human connections in these times, she said.

"I love Dublin High," Tripplett said during the meeting. "We have a very diverse school and I want everyone to feel what it's like to be part of something bigger, as a community, through T-shirts."

Anyone interesting in donating to the T-shirt campaign may make out a check to Dublin High School Leadership and write "diversity and unity shirt" in the memo line. Mail checks to Dublin High School at 8151 Village Parkway, Dublin, CA, 94568.