Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION AT WCS

HOW WICHITA COLLEGIATE SCHOOL IS REFLECTING ON ITS PAST AND WORKING TOWARD A BETTER FUTURE

The year 1963 is significant, in both our local and national histories. In 1963, Wichita Collegiate School was founded out of a desire of five families to provide a better education for their children. In late August of 1963, the March on Washington took place, spurred by a desire of innumerable people to create a better future for themselves and their children.

In the nearly six decades since then, much has changed, but much has stayed the same. Now, in 2020, our school, community, nation, and world are experiencing a reckoning with that which has stayed the same. While the premise of righting our world seems incredibly daunting, we at Wichita Collegiate School are committed to improving our school and local community in many ways, but especially in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Head of School Nathan Washer is engaging trustees, faculty and staff, current parents, alumni, and other community members in conversation to understand our history and to create a better future. He has assembled a small task force to develop a defined school statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity; to audit representation of ethnicity in our student body and administration; to create professional development plans on DEI issues; and identify resources to help us review curricula that reflects a diverse range of experiences, among other things. Washer also hosted an alumni forum and heard from more than 30 alumni about their experiences at WCS. One alumnus in particular who attended and spoke within the forum is Regis Fox, Class of 2004. A lifer, he began his WCS career as a three- or four-year-old child and stayed all the way through to graduation. But growing up near 13th and Hydraulic in the McAdams neighborhood, Regis says he lived within “two very dynamic and different cultures. My mom nicknamed me, ‘chameleon.’ My being in two different atmospheres really let me learn at an early age how to develop and change how I walk,

how I dress.” Of being at school versus going home, Regis said, “’this is how I act here, but I’m home now so I can be myself.’ That’s a tough thing to say, especially when you’re a young kid, but I learned how to play those roles very well.” Another alumnus who spoke up in the forum is Amar Shah, Class of 2002. After the murder of George Floyd and the major protests that broke out in response, Shah created a Change.org petition calling on WCS to implement curricula changes addressing diversity, inclusion, and systemic racism. More than 1,000 alumni signed the petition in less than 24 hours. “WCS has always stood for excellence,” Shah said, and feels everyone can achieve excellence if they are heard and respected for their individual experiences. This can only happen in a community that embraces and celebrates its differences. “We, as proud alumni, are here to collaborate and help in this important work. We are behind you 100%,” Shah said. In conversations with

other alumni, Shah has heard themes consistent with Fox’s experience – students leading parallel lives. So he posed this question – “How do we as an institution build leaders that bridge those gaps?” Fox and Shah both shared that the answers to that question lie in thoughtfully listening to the experiences of the full spectrum of WCS constituents,

"I want my kids to see every belief, meet people of every political persuasion, ethnicity, and religion. I want them to be ready to be leaders in their communities."

GET INVOLVED!

participating in some serious selfreflection, then taking action at a systemic level. “Maybe the first step would be actually admitting the awareness, saying, ‘Hey, this is an issue that we’ve had since our conception in 1963. This is something we’re seriously gonna take a look at,’” Fox said. Such a “holistic approach is always the right one,” Shah said. Kathy Rukes ’99, current parent to three boys, new Director of Enrollment Management (formerly Admission), and member of the DEI Task Force, says it all begins with our faculty and staff. “We have to all be speaking the same language, coming from the same place. We have a tolerant community, but we aren’t quite to the point where we’re embracing and celebrating differences. So it starts with helping our faculty and staff embrace all those differences.”

Rukes says another step is then recruiting teachers who look like the students we aim to teach. “We are a more diverse community than people realize, but our faculty and staff is not as diverse. I would imagine when you visit a campus and don’t see any teachers who look like you, that’s a barrier.”

When representation is there, it has a positive impact. Fox echoed that sentiment. “The only black teacher I had, being a lifer, was Jan Davis. She was influential on so many levels. It was so refreshing for me as a 7th and 8th grade student to say, ‘Hey, there’s someone who looks like me running something.’ I’d never seen that before,” Fox said.

While there is still work to be done, Hanale Vincent brings new perspective as our incoming Head of Middle School. “Being a person of color myself, growing up in a very diverse world in Hawaii, I know the value that honoring and celebrating diversity and differences can bring to kids,” Vincent said. When asked how we will get to a place of better honoring and celebrating diversity as a school and staff, he remarked that, “it’s important to realize what we ask children to do. We ask children to learn and try new things, to be vulnerable and to fail and to learn from failures. If we want kids to do things that are uncomfortable, that they’re not good at, we need to want the same for ourselves. And the commitment has to be authentic and continual.

When asked why now it’s more important than ever to do the work and get this right, Kathy Rukes shared why she chooses Collegiate for her own children – “Because I want my kids to see every belief, meet people of every political persuasion, ethnicity, and religion. I want them to be ready to be leaders in their communities. They need to see what the world really looks like, which allows them to be reflective and then take ownership of their own experiences. “This is a school whose students go on to be leaders. If we have that role to play, we should be doing everything we can to make sure we’re educating them to be the best leaders possible.” As we head into a new school year, WCS wants you to know where we stand and where we are headed. We are listening. We are self-reflecting. And we are ready to take action, to do the work necessary to effect change, for ourselves and our students.

If you would like to get involved and engaged with WCS on the topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion, please contact Head of School Nathan Washer:

nwasher@wcsks.com (316) 771-2220