On Campus

Pictured above are the 2020-2021

DEI Co-Chairs and Committee.

Joining them next year as DEI

Board Co-Chairs are Vashti Sinigayan ‘99 and Emily Gonzalez-Jauregui ‘15.

Junior Ariana Montiel ‘22 choreographed this beautiful and powerful dance piece “Dear Black Girl” centered around her own embodied experience about loving herself as a young woman of color. Visit our DEI webpage to view this amazing performance.

New on DEI’s Summer Reading List for all faculty and staff: “BIASED: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See” by Jennifer Lynn Eberhardt

DEIDEI Spotlight This Year’s Journey Mercy’s DEI Committee was established last year with the aim to raise awareness of and promote the necessary values of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that are rooted in Catholic Social Thought through continued collaboration and dialogue with our Mercy Burlingame community and partnerships. In Fall 2020, an optional faculty and staff book club was created to provide Mercy educators with a space to hold DEI centered conversations. The books studied this year were “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi and “So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo. Learning opportunities were designed for faculty and staff as well as students. This included partnering with Be the Change Consulting, a women of color-founded, -owned, and -led organization, to begin the process of becoming more anti-racist as an organization. Additionally, the DEI Committee collaborated with the Sojourn Project alongside Mercy’s Social Studies, Religion, and English Departments to deepen students’ understanding of the Freedom Struggle for Civil Rights and voter suppression. Guest speakers included Joanne Bland, who participated in the Selma to Montgomery March in 1963 and witnessed the violence of “Bloody Sunday” and Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine. In Spring 2021, the DEI Committee was restructured to reflect key school areas through the following five work teams: Marketing, Student Life, Academic Integration, Faculty, Staff, Leadership Support and Professional Development, and Process, Quality, and Improvement (otherwise known as PQI which tracks the DEI Committee’s progress on their short- and long-term goals). Here are some recent work team accomplishments: • The Marketing work team created a webpage featuring the DEI Committee’s work, including a public feedback form and examples of student work that testify to students’ visions of a more inclusive world and their deepened understanding of their role as agents of change. Please check it out at: https://www. mercyhsb.com/about/diversityequity-inclusion • The Student Life work team cultivated intentional listening spaces to continue meaningful exchanges with Mercy’s BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students to share their personal experiences and offer constructive feedback for how Mercy High School can better ally, support, and address the needs of the student body to foster the most diverse, equitable, and inclusive community it can. • The Faculty, Staff, Leadership Support, and Professional Development work team incorporated teacher and student DEI spotlights at several faculty and staff meetings where teachers and students explained how they were integrating Mercy’s DEI mission and goals into the classroom and extracurricular spaces. • The Academic Integration work team continued their partnership with the Sojourn Project in collaboration with Mercy’s Social Studies, Religion, and English Departments to help students deepen their understanding of the history of school segregation, as well as provide additional educational opportunities for Mercy’s faculty and staff. Spring semester brought guest speakers such as Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine.

Junior Ring Ceremony

The Junior Ring Ceremony is a beloved tradition that celebrates the transition of young women becoming upperclassmen. The event celebrates the bond that Mercy students have with those who came before them, as well as to the global Mercy community. Class rings are a symbol of Mercy values, reminding us to appreciate the diversity among us, empowering us to be our better selves, and honoring our roots of faith and service.

Awards!

SPIRIT OF MERCY MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP Carolina Gutierrez Rodriguez ’22

and Cassandra Bousquet ‘22 received the highest honor award bestowed upon a junior—the Spirit of Mercy Memorial Scholarship, in memory of Moira O’Donnell ’90, Cindy Caughman ’92, and Angie Ciucci ’99. The scholarship is awarded annually to a student(s) who exemplifies the Mercy spirit and the values which guided Moira, Cindy, and Angie’s lives: faith, love, courage, compassion, generosity, social justice, and a joy for life.

SISTER MARY GABRIEL AND SISTER MARY CONSOLATA SCHOLARSHIP

Natalie Dean ‘22 received this award, which is based on the values lived by “Consie and Gabe”—love of Mercy and the values represented by a Mercy education, willingness to rise to the challenge, and support for their fellow students. This scholarship is awarded to a junior who displays enthusiasm for challenges, either academically or in extra-curricular activities, and who shows undaunted loyalty to the Mercy spirit.

VORSATZ FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP Jaimee Fabula ‘23, our recipient, has exhibited qualities that embody the spirit of a Mercy education and the spirit of Arica Vorsatz ‘00. These demonstrated qualities include leadership, a passion for helping others, ambition, work ethic, and a desire to make the world a better place. This scholarship is given annually to a sophomore and includes the opportunity to create a lifelong mentoring relationship with Arica’s older sister, Alison Vorsatz ‘98.

YMI SCHOLARSHIP Kacey Rodriguez ‘22 was awarded the YMI Scholarship which is given to a junior who is a practicing Catholic, is in good standing at the school, represents the values of YMI, and has exhibited a consistent commitment to community service and Christian leadership.

FACULTY & STAFF ANNIVERSARIES

5 YEARS 5 YEARS 5 YEARS 5 YEARS 5 YEARS

THE ENCHANTED FOREST Winter Formal

DRIVE THROUGH!

The outside of the mansion was decorated, and students came dressed up to take photos on the mansion stairs with members of their pod/car without a mask.

PROM - MIDNIGHT IN PARIS!

Juniors and seniors dressed to the nines and enjoyed their Prom at Kohl Mansion this year. There was dancing, food, pictures and fun!