Upper School diversity facilitators have been busy taking their well-developed skills, which allow them to help other students lean into discomfort and talk about sensitive topics, to other schools.
In late February, five AFS students led a series of workshops at the Delbarton School, a Roman Catholic boys’ school in Morristown, N.J. There, they worked with seventh through 12th graders on activities involving identity and how to have difficult conversations about topics, including pro-life and pro-choice issues, the Black Lives Matter movement and marriage equality.
On March 6, about a dozen AFS students worked after school with Cheltenham students who are members of affinity groups. The workshops focused on cliques, sharing personal fears and being a part of courageous conversations. Toni Graves Williamson, Assistant Head of School for Equity and Inclusion, said it was the first time AFS student facilitators had been invited to conduct their activities in a public school.
Our facilitators will be returning to work with Cheltenham High School students to help them learn to lead their own activities.
Meanwhile, 15 seventh and eighth graders, who are members of the recently formed Middle School PRIDE Diversity Leadership group, attended the 2017 Middle School Diversity Conference at Haverford School on March 1. The conference asked more than 400 middle school students from four states to consider the questions of how we can find commonalities around differences and how to be courageous in taking a stand for oneself and for others.
Keynote speaker DeVon Jackson, the Associate Director in the Office of Intercultural Affairs at Villanova University, led the students through an exercise about privilege and facilitated a series of role-play activities. Students also were divided into breakout groups for activities about identifiers and privilege, as well as a guided meditation to reflect on some of the topics of conversation.
Middle School Deans Erin Timmer and Mark Smith said the AFS students were excited to meet students who are working on diversity issues in other schools, and look forward to deepening their own understanding in the months ahead.
On March 8, two MS PRIDE members, eighth grader Sophia Mele and seventh grader Sanaa Nicholson led their first group activity at AFS. They used what they had learned from their Upper School mentors about facilitating a group to help fellow Middle Schoolers better understand privilege. Mark said it is hoped that each PRIDE member will have a chance to lead an activity. Later, decisions will be made about which activities to bring to the whole Middle School.
