On Wednesday, December 9, six Tabor Academy students and six faculty members went to Tampa, Florida to attend the Student Diversity Leadership Conference. The conference, which spanned Thursday to Saturday, divided the students in attendance into family groups (groups of 60) and within those groups there were home groups (groups of 10).
Within these groups, students participated in activities and attended lectures about various aspects of diversity, including gender, race, and sexuality. During the conference, students were also broken into Affinity groups based on race and regional groups based on location. In these regional groups, students discussed how best to make an impact at their own school.
Anika Walker-Johnson, the director of Multicultural Affairs at Tabor Academy, organized Tabor’s involvement in the conference and attended with other faculty as well as students.
Allana Gilgeous (‘16), Lulu Ward (‘16), Duhita Das (‘17), Trinity Monteiro (‘17), Nicole Fernandes (‘17), and Anaelle Ndoye (‘17) all attended SDLC this year. Of these six, Gilgeous, Monteiro, and Ndoye attended last year as well.
“SDLC definitely opened my eyes to how diverse this country is,” said Das. “Whether it is gender, sexuality, socioeconomic class, religion, ability, or race, there are so many different types of people I have yet to learn about.”
When the students broke out into regional groups, Tabor students joined up with students from St. George’s, another local school, to discuss how to improve diversity within the schools.
“I realized that I am so lucky to be in a place like Tabor, but there are also so many ways Tabor could be a more inclusive community, and I really hope I can help initiate that,” said Das.
Monteiro also attended the conference, and recently has done much within Tabor to highlight feminism as a core issue. She has started a local chapter of “I Am That Girl,” a feminist program that serves to empower and support girls across campus.
“The first year of SDLC gave me the courage to go after what I love and that is where all this ‘I Am That Girl’ stuff I am doing comes from,” said Monteiro. “So this year, I wanted to expand on all of that. SDLC always makes me feel more empowered than ever.”
Much of the conference focuses on productive conversation and addressing important social issues. Monteiro noted that, “The conference gives me the motivation, support, and courage to help change and make things better here on campus so I can find all those great things I do at SDLC here at Tabor.”
This annual conference helps highlight Tabor’s recent increased emphasis on diversity and inclusion. Identifying and celebrating the many types of diversity is one of Tabor’s main goals, and having so many students and faculty dedicated to this cause helps establish a base effort to bring the whole community together.
By Madeleine Gregory
