Students attend Diversity Conference

Members of the Student Diversity Committee attended the 9th Annual Student Diversity Leadership Conference on Sunday, April 10 at Choate Rosemary Hall. Representing our school were Agape Cogswell’14, Shivali Gupta’13, Nyah Macklin’12, Maggie Migdalski’12, and Kingston Pung’12. Sponsored by the CAIS Commission on Diversity in Independent Schools, the conference involved all-day activities that challenged over 450 attendees to celebrate where they come from and who they are. It encouraged participants to lean towards discomfort and to explore the new and the unfamiliar.

Keynote speaker Mawi Asgedom, who wrote Of Beetles and Angels, shared his personal journey as an Ethiopian child fleeing to a refugee camp in Somalia, then moving to the United States with his parents and siblings to start a new life. He shared a similar message in asking participants, “How will you see the people who are invisible?” and “How old will you be when you decide to embrace yourself completely?”

“Founded in 2003 by the CAIS Commission on Diversity in Independent Schools, this conference was inspired by events in other regions (such as Across Colors in Southern California) and modeled after the national conference held annually by NAIS. The mission of the event is to bring students from grades 7-12 and adults from independent schools across the state together for a day of networking and dialogue, facilitating cross-cultural understanding and a call to action to improve our school communities and our world.” –www.CAIS.org