In March, the Middle School celebrated Diversity Day, an all-day program hosted by the DEIB (Diversity Equity Inclusion & Belonging) Department. Students heard from speakers like Dr. Marsha Maxwell about the importance of inclusive AI and even saw an artificial “deepfake”, a fake video, of their principal! They moved onto their small group workshops: cooking rice to make Venezuelan chicha and fried rice; learning about the science of skin color; making yarn art inspired by the Huichol people’s customs; and learning a latin mambo, among other things! Students then learned about the meaning and importance of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, (and fasting and feasting). We ended our day with a colorful Holi color throwing celebration on Graham Field, in honor of the Hindu holiday that marks the victory of good versus evil. 

Upon reflection, Ms. Simone Henry Agblonon, Assistant Director of DEIB, noted that,

“Alongside many other DEIB efforts, MS Diversity Day is an institutional demonstration of the fact that some things are important enough to halt classes and focus on other forms of learning, because we want to educate whole humans, not just academics. In order to align busy schedules across grade levels and to unite both students and faculty under one common purpose, a dedicated day of learning related to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging is reserved.

What I hope students and faculty gain from the experience [of MS Diversity Day] is a reinvigoration of our collective dedication to celebrating our school’s and [by extension,] the world’s diversity— and our pursuit toward fostering profound equity, inclusion and belonging in our community. We still have a long way to go, but hopefully Diversity Day gets us one step closer each year by reminding us all why it’s important, why it requires community-wide efforts and why it truly benefits each and every one of us.”