7 minute read
DEI Update
STEADY PROGRESS
Through student organizations, faculty professional development, alumni outreach and commitment from school leaders, Trinity dives into the important work of building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community
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“Students thrive when they have a sense of belonging in an environment of mutual respect and understanding. This has always been a strength of Trinity. Our community is richer when everyone is “here now” and invested. Our students are empowered to take risks, try new things, learn from failure and build confidence to tackle the next steps in their lives.” — Honor the Mission: A Strategic Plan for Trinity 2018-2023
Approved by the board of trustees in 2018, these words reaffirmed the school’s ongoing commitment and aspiration that every student find a sense of belonging at Trinity. With the nation’s renewed focus on issues of systemic racism and social justice over the past year, this commitment has been continued by students, faculty, alumni, staff and friends of Trinity through the sincere work of building diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
“We really are trying to look at everything we do through inclusion — coming back to the strategic plan and building a sense of belonging.” said Laura Hamlin Weiler ’00, head of community engagement, who has been coordinating Trinity’s DEI initiatives this school year. “This year has provided renewed clarity and focus for things that have always been foundational for Trinity.”
Trinity’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, comprised of 19 faculty and staff who have met regularly throughout the year, is committed to examining all aspects of the school through the lens of DEI. Subcommittee work includes increasing diversity among faculty and staff as well as collecting qualitative data through personal interviews and conversations to enable the administration and faculty to better understand the experience for those in varied socioeconomic backgrounds, people of color, and other traditionally underrepresented groups. A group of Black alumni has continued to engage with administrators and faculty to share perspectives and ideas for Black alumni engagement. These sessions have been key in learning from alumni and strengthening connections. “They have all been very excited about coming back and sharing your experiences with younger kids,” said Sam Mickens, admission associate and head football coach, who has attended and helped facilitate these online meetings. “And the school has been very open to ideas about ways to get alumni of color involved and more connected.”
Another significant theme of 2020-21 has been to develop and formalize opportunities for both students and faculty to engage in conversations with one another to share perspectives, tell their stories, and most importantly learn about someone else, someone different from themselves. Inspired by the “One Small Step” listening project created by the founder of NPR StoryCorps project, Chapels, Morning Meetings, club meetings and more have been focused on people connecting and sharing stories. “That’s been a major theme for us this year,” said Weiler. “Because we feel like this work is best done at Trinity through telling stories and listening to and learning from other people’s stories, finding common humanity and understanding through different perspectives.”
New to campus this year, the Black Alliance Initiative has very quickly created meaningful platforms for students and faculty to listen, learn and engage. Meetings have featured whole group and small group discussions around a range of topics. In February, the students from the BAI Executive Board started a series of lunchtime conversations with teachers, beginning with the social studies department. Among the goals are to share what it is like to be a Black student in a history class, and to better understand what it is like for a teacher to approach a topic like slavery when there might only be one Black student in the class. “The courage of these students in initiating conversation with their teachers around incredibly difficult topics is remarkable,” said Weiler. “They are eager to continue discussions with other faculty and staff.”
In addition to providing targeted facilitation with both the faculty and the board of trustees, Trinity’s relationship with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities (VCIC) has continued with thematic work with the student body at large and its leaders. In early October, Jonathan Zur led an all-school virtual assembly on
the difference between equality and equity. Returning for a second virtual assembly in January, Zur and his VCIC colleague Charm Bullard shared anecdotes to illustrate the differences between being a bystander (someone who witnesses an act of bullying or harassment and says nothing), an upstander (someone who takes some kind of action in the moment to stop it, and an ally (someone who actively supports these efforts over time). Thanking Zur for his facilitation and leadership, Head of School Rob Short echoed the importance of deeper learning. “Watching and listening is learning at one level, but there is a deeper kind of learning that occurs when you think, reflect and put things in your own words,” said Short, “and there’s a third level when you’re intentional in what you do.” After each session, students reflected through a series of questions that asked them to think about their own actions in building and supporting inclusivity at Trinity.
Benefitting from additional support and training from VCIC were nearly 30 student leaders from student government, class office and clubs, as well as the Honor Committee, Student Conduct Committee, the Feminist Club, the Black Alliance Initiative, and the Gay-Straight Alliance. Student leaders learned how to facilitate difficult conversations on their own, establishing norms for communicating, and practicing principles, like using “I statements” and responding to differing perspectives “with wonder rather than judgement.” “Saying ‘I wonder why you feel that way’ instead of ‘I think you’re a terrible person’ can be the difference between starting a conversation or starting an argument,” said one facilitator.
School administrators will continue to partner with VCIC to create a roadmap for the future for Trinity specific to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This will build off of work begun in the latest strategic plan, particularly the initiative of creating a sense of belonging and will include but is not limited to curriculum, professional development, recruitment and retention, school climate and experience and alumni engagement.
“I’m so grateful for the daily efforts of our students, faculty, and staff leadership, each doing their part to establish a sense of belonging in all we do,” said Head of School Rob Short. “This is essential work that must occur every day and every year, on our campus and beyond to be successful and enduring.”
REACHING OUT
Trinity students bring personal experiences, commitment to dialogue, to national and regional diversity leadership conferences
Six Trinity students attended the National Association of Independent School’s (NAIS) Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) in early December, held virtually for the first time this year. SDLC focuses on self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community. Led by a diverse team of trained adult and peer facilitators, participating students develop cross-cultural communication skills, design effective strategies for social justice practice through dialogue and the arts, and learn the foundations of allyship and networking principles.
“Everyone there was open to hearing other people’s stories and the amount of support was incredible,” said Chaz Sutton ’22, one of the Trinity student participants. “It made everyone happy and it felt so good. The support in the chat was so strong.” Cameron Walker ’24 and Naya Shams ’24 were among the younger students to attend the conference, yet both felt empowered and inspired by their respective experiences. All of the participants concluded with ideas and momentum for continuing to create change and space at Trinity.
Also in early December, the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities (VCIC) hosted a Diversity Dialogue Day (DDD), featured speakers and then breakout groups to discuss issues and ideas around inclusion in high schools. Trinity’s attendees were Andy Mutoti ’22, Camryn Sutton ’22, DJ Covington ’22, and Aaliyana Carr ’23. Trinity also had two faculty members volunteering as facilitators. Steve Dowell and Aparna Harger volunteered as group facilitators and encouraged conversation from adolescents in their various groups. Both are also members of Trinity’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
The day ended with a session specific to Trinity, in which Sutton, Mutoti, Covington, and Carr met with school administrators to discuss ideas for increasing awareness and inclusivity on campus — specifically bringing fresh ideas for the school’s new-student orientation activities.
