Diversity Highlights for the 2007-2008 School Year
Lower School
“Courage” Wall of Fame – Using the same format from last year’s Black History Month Wall of Fame, students studied, presented and displayed stories of individuals from diverse backgrounds who modeled courage. Examples included those from under represented races/cultures and those with disabilities. Our Library class has taken shape as a global curriculum that focuses not only on the development of each individual’s unique story but also as a window into cultures and stories around the world.
2/11-13 Lower School, “Mini Term Workshop”
Each year, the Lower School holds a special event, which exposes students to a wide range of cultures. This year the boys were presented with a variety of workshops in which to participate, such as International Games, Cooking Around the World, African Safari or Chinese Art and Literature. There were a total of 16 offered.
Lower School CUBs, Culturally United Bruins
CUBs have had an active 2nd year with a continued focus on bringing the richness of cultures, food and discussions to the members in 3rd & 4th grade. Some of the boys actively participated in “A Global Brunswick“ (see below) and some CUBs chose to travel to South Africa during Spring Break. The boys will bring their once in a lifetime journey to the Brunswick community in the Fall.
Middle School
1/18 Lower & Middle School Assembly: “M.L.K.: Amazing Grace”
Writer, director, Rochel Coleman brought to life Dr. King’s story and many who influenced King and the civil rights movement along the way. Mr. Coleman has previously performed at Brunswick with various shows & recognizes our boys as they do him.
1/31 Middle School Assembly
“ A Passion for Justice” The Prudence Crandall Story
ADL and CT Young Audiences teamed together to present this one actress play about Ms. Crandall, a CT heroine, who in 1834 opens a school for young black girls and reveals the life threatening resistance she and her students face. The program moves into an awareness workshop led by ADL trainers. There were 32 middle and upper school boys who volunteered to participate in this additional workshop to bring it then to their peers in the classroom.
Middle School Diversity Club
1/26 Field Trip to NYC - Fourteen middle school boys traveled for a day to The Tenement Museum of the Lower East Side where they visited the home of a Spanish immigrant family from the 19th century who described how it was to make a new life in America. After dim sum in Chinatown, the boys divided into small groups at the Museum of Chinese in America to present to one another an immigration or integration story, which included museum artifacts.
February 2008 Black History Month - The Middle School club members researched and developed a power point presentation, shown in an assembly, along with a daily question challenging all students to learn about significant Black contributors to society. This generated a lot of student excitement, interest and promoted a lot of hallway chatter.
Upper School
Diversity in Action, Upper School Club
1/30 Martin Luther King Assembly - During this Upper School assembly, Diversity in Action brought the history not only of Dr. King but also the influences of Bayard Ruskin, Mahatma Gandhi and Virginia Durr to the civil rights movement. The assembly was enhanced by the “Men of Brunswick” acappella group, a dramatic reading of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, a power point and some special recollections presented by club members of civil rights involvement and memories of Mrs. Samponaro’s father, Lee Jackson’s father and Bryan Coleman’s grandfather, Dr. Van Atta, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Booth.
2/22/08 “A Global Brunswick”, 2nd all-school diversity event - Students of all ages, parents and faculty gathered together to share their passions and perspectives on diversity. As Diversity in Action led activities and small group discussions, younger students gladly shared their insightful comments at the microphone. A Lower school student shared, “I valued most how everyone could come together to discuss a problem” and an Upper School student observes, “there are many parents and teachers that have the same concern.” Parents offered, “I learned that talking about differences really means finding our similarities. Our common humanity greatly outweighs our superficial differences” and “I learned this evening what it might feel like to be in the minority”.
11/19 ADL’s, “Names Can Really Hurt Us”, Joint GA and Wick all day program
62 students, 35 faculty and 6 panelists participated in training to prep for this upper school assembly. Small groups reported at the end of the program what they would like to implement as a result of the day:
Everyone is responsible for each other.
Recognize random acts of kindness.
It’s up to you. You can show someone that you changed.
Post signs: Have you been an Ally today?
Be more acutely aware of your actions and what you say.
Take action, it is easy to say things but hard to do them.
More discussions in order to keep it alive.
Launching New Initiatives School Wide:
Transportation and Extended After School Program
The first year of providing additional transportation and extended after school options to families has proved helpful and invaluable to a number of families. Very importantly, it has shown to attract new families of color to Brunswick due to this added and very necessary support.
6/5/08 Wick Family Networking Open House
Already receiving requests to expand, we are holding this first time event in June to assist in new and current families in making connections with those who live in the same geographic area. This event is designed to assist with transportation and support for those who live outside Greenwich, which has met with positive feedback as the BPA has received requests to include the entire community.
Guide for New Families
A guide is being developed to assist new families as they transition into the Brunswick community. There will be sections on whom to contact for which questions, an explanation of transportation and after school services for each division and an addendum for financial aid families. The guide has been developed in part with the help of feedback from 60 students, faculty and parents collected by the Faculty Diversity Committee. Having every family welcomed and feeling comfortable to ask questions are main components in providing the guide.