Dominic Derfler

CHS senior Dominic Derfler is taking a stand against hate within the halls of CHS

On Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, many CHS students decided walk out of class at noon in protest of Trump’s entrance to office. Senior Dominic Derfler had been asked by student organizers to speak at the event, however he did not know at that point that he would soon become a leader of the whole march.
Students met in the quad at noon, trying to make a statement. However, Derfler felt that this was not enough to get the attention of the administration. He led the students out to march and chant around downtown Clayton, in efforts to get their voice heard.
“I decided to take the initiative to move the walk out further because I felt like our administration and administrations everywhere won’t take it seriously unless we do what they expect us not to do,” Derfler said.
For Derfler, the point of the walk-out was to state that Clayton students would not tolerate hate in their community. After Trump’s election, he had seen the acts of hate grow and wanted to make sure Clayton stayed a tolerant and welcoming environment.
“I am fed up with the hate in not just our school, just in general. There’s just a lot of negativity and I don’t like it. Somebody needs to promote both positivity and this togetherness in stopping hate,” he said.
Along with the sentiments of hate he felt to be growing in the country, Derfler was particularly concerned with the treatment minorities would receive under the Trump administration.
“My biggest concern was basically people not getting represented by the Trump Administration and the people who began to come into power recently,” Derfler said. “Groups like LGBTQ community and minorities like the Hispanic/Latino community and a lot of people just that would be coming under fire through the things [President Trump] would be putting into action in his office so I decided that someone, specifically during the walkout, had to make the move to let people know that nothing’s going to happen unless we take initiative.”
During this Inauguration Day walk-out, Derfler also wanted to ensure that positivity remained key and thus decided to contrast, what he believes to be, hate culture and social inequity, with a positive attitude.
“I was making sure everybody was smiling and having fun because it’s not about hatefully protesting Trump or whoever or hatefully this, hatefully that. It’s about positivity because you can’t fight hate with hate; there has to be a positive movement in it,” he said.
For Derfler, this positivity is especially needed in high schools across the country. He believes that the Trump administration’s tactics present a poor example to young teens who have come to learn that the actions of the Trump Administration represent what America has come to be.
“Everything that our administration promotes — whether it’s hate or positivity — the society reflects that. I want kids to know that it’s not the truth. You don’t have to be negative. You don’t have to feel like your word means nothing,” Derfler said.
Derfler’s leadership did not end with the walk-out. In fact, he has been working to create an Open Dialogue Club in CHS to foster better and more civil discussion, and provide students with a place to have their voice heard. Although Derfler was working on the project prior to Election Day, he felt that Trump’s presidency coincided perfectly with the creation of the club.
“It happened to coincidentally work well with the Trump hate speech, hate crimes, and this hate environment that a lot of the Trump Administration promotes, or passively supports,” Derfler said.
Ultimately, Derfler’s goal is not to solely denounce the actions of the Trump Administration but to leave a positive mark on CHS, that denounces the concept of hate altogether.
“It’s not about who remembers me, it’s about what I’ve done to help this place,” he said. “I’m not going to say I spent four years here for nothing. Although it’s still a great, tolerant environment, we should always strive for better.”
Derfler hopes the actions he takes in CHS to promote this environment will last and eventually spread to other parts of the city and even country.
As he said, “it’s all based off the theory that if you’re positive and you promote a positive environment, then that positivity will stick.”