Ninth
Graders Share Lessons Learned at Student Diversity Leadership Conference
During
an Upper School assembly on January 19, six ninth grade students shared their
experiences at the December NAIS Students Diversity Leadership Conference, held
in Denver, Colorado. Amie Dickson, Justus Houston, Lila King, Ned Oliver,
Charlotte Searle, and Rashana Shabazz joined more than 1,100 students from
around the country to focus on how to make our schools more diverse and
inclusive institutions. At first, the students were unsure of what to expect
from the conference, but they acknowledged afterward that it had been a
transformative experience. They spoke of how they were able to feel what it is
like to be in the minority or the majority and what that means to them. They
also realized that negatively stereotyping individuals before meeting them was
just setting themselves up for a negative experience. In the end, they
concluded that in braving the cold Denver winter, they had learned how to open
themselves up to a new experience–one that will stay with them as they move on
from GCDS.
