Hopkins Student Diversity Board

The Social Justice Leadership Program is a platform for younger students to develop integral leadership skills that are required for social justice and related humanity fields. The program is aimed towards eighth and ninth graders who are interested in social justice but do not know how to go about starting a specific project, would like to eventually become a leader, or do not know how to get involved.

The event would include speakers and notes on how to get involved in social justice work as a leader. A major component of the program would be access to mentors who are current heads of social justice clubs at Hopkins. The hope is for students to develop their own initiatives and projects during the program, utilise their new resources, and work in their communities outside of Hopkins.

The Hopkins “Equity and Community” page is being redesigned with the goals of rewriting the diversity mission statement and adding information about diversity board projects, an FAQ section, and information about diversity at Hopkins for incoming students.This new design will make access to information about Hopkins’ diversity programs easier and will allow for suggestions and additional questions for anyone who wants to know more.

The Real Talk student presentation series is designed to provide a platform for voices, promote self-expression, and empower the Hopkins community. Assembly presentations each month give students the opportunity to share their identities and experiences through speech, performance, or other forms of art.

What it’s like to be a Blank on the Hill is an open discussion where a group of minority students can share their stories about a common part of their identity. This discussion also hopes to create a space where any questions are acceptable. For example, our first discussion will be, “what it’s like to be Muslim on the Hill.” We invite muslim students to come share their experiences. We also invite the Hopkins Community to come join a discussion where any and all questions are acceptable and encouraged.

Following up on the inaugural poetry slam of last year, we desire to continue to further conversations surrounding equity and identity through the use of spoken word. This year, we want to use this event as an opportunity to connect with the New Haven community beyond the Hopkins campus and Westville. We hope to create a space in which we can hear the voices of students from a variety of backgrounds.

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."
—Maya Angelou

Female students listen to female teacher's experiences and academic and professional careers, which would provide them with insights on challenges they have faced and how to deal with them. Additionally, female students could get advice on how to handle any discrimination or microaggressions they may face now at Hopkins and in their future pursuits. Following panels with Hopkins Alums and other members of the STEM community will follow.

The Diversity Board, with help from the other diversity clubs at Hopkins (Diversity Board, SURE, ERRO, and SAGA), is planning an event inviting students from other schools through their diversity organizations. The idea comes from the CT Student Diversity Leadership Conference in 2018 when Hotchkiss hosted a dance through their Black and Latino Student Alliance. The goal is to form a relationship between us and schools like Hamden Hall and Choate so that in the future we can plan diversity-related initiatives together from our shared experience as students from CT private schools.

We aim to educate the community on what diversity is and why it’s important with some fun, friendly competition. We will have Kahoots during free periods, trivia nights, and online polls. Hopefully the casual nature of trivia can instill the Student Diversity Board’s values in people who wouldn’t be open otherwise.

Our goal is to ensure that every student’s identity can be represented in the curriculum and students are exposed to differing and alternative ideas.
We are here to enhance the great curriculum already in place by offering the student perspective.

• We want to learn about each other and our own background.
• We encourage representation in every subject
• We want to learn from different perspectives and about different experiences.

In coordination with the Real Talk Speaker Series, we will feature selections of student contributions to post on Instagram. This page is @realtalkcollective. In addition to brief paragraphs about a student's experience, we accept art, poetry, and photography. Submissions can be sent via DM or realtalkcollective@gmail.com.

We are seeking to get connected and involve ourselves more within New Haven. Our goal is to reach out to the New Haven community and get Hopkins students more involved with pre-existing events in greater New Haven. Through long term partnerships as well as fun events, we hope to establish a lasting relationship between Hopkins and the surrounding community. This will create a platform for us to further connect to individuals within New Haven, and will give Hopkins and New Haven students a chance to come together and benefit from each other.

What it’s like to be a Blank on the Hill is a open discussion where a group of minority students can share their stories about a common part of their identity. This discussion also hopes to create a space where any questions it acceptable. For example, our first discussion will be, what it’s like to be Muslim on the Hill? We invite muslim students to come share their experiences. We also invite the Hopkins Community to come join a discussion where any and all questions is acceptable and encouraged.

We feel that seventh and eighth graders deserve as much of a voice as older students on the Hopkins campus. With this project, we aim to create a platform for junior schoolers to share their experiences and ideas to promote equity and community. Junior School Diversity Board meetings are an informal and friendly space where all are welcome to discuss.