For Shannon Swann, what started off as a chance encounter in Atlanta for the NAIS People of Color Conference ended up driving home some of the most important points of the conference.
“I was walking back to the hotel one night, and this quite old gentleman starting walking beside me,” said Swann. “I kind of knew what was up, but I thought this was an opportunity to talk to someone I never would’ve talked to otherwise.”
“So we chatted, and he started to tell me about himself,” she continued. “He told me about a time when he was young and his grandma sent him down to get a sandwich. She told him he had to sit there and eat it because walking down the street and eating was considered bad manners.”
“He goes to the restaurant, but the place to sit had a sign that said ‘Whites Only.” He sat down anyway because he was doing what his grandma said to do. Someone chased him out, yelling, ‘What do you think you’re doing there?'”
“I’d never met someone who experienced that,” said Swann. “I’ve seen the signs in pictures, but this man was five years old, and someone actually said to him, ‘You can’t sit in this place because your skin is the wrong color.’ That just fell into my lap, that moment. And I’ve been thinking about it ever since.”
NAIS People of Color & Student Diversity Leadership Conferences
With a focus on advancing human and civil rights, and an emphasis on proximity, more than 5,000 independent school students and teachers from all parts of the country traveled to Atlanta in December for the NAIS People of Color Conference and NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference.
Director of College Counseling Lade Akande and Director of International Programs Shannon Swann represented University High School at the People of Color Conference. Five students — sophomore Kenzie Allen, senior Cissy Luo, sophomore Eric Major, junior Cole Rains, and junior Maddie Sersic — attended the concurrent Student Diversity Leadership Conference.
Impact on Students
“One of the main aspects of the conference for both the adults and the students was the affinity groups,” said Akande. “They had affinity groups based on race, but they also had an international affinity group, and an LGBTQ affinity group. That’s where the feedback from the students seemed to be the strongest. Maddie Sersic said that first day, ‘I’ve never been around this much diversity in my life.'”
For students, the focus of SDLC was “self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community.” For the University students, though, it ended up being about so much more. Not only did they meet students from other parts of the country whose experiences are similar to their own, but they also bonded as a group. After the conference ended, the group did some sightseeing in Atlanta with Swann. They visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and The Carter Center.
“They built bonds with each other,” said Akande. “It was a really powerful experience for the students. We had a little group chat going with them, and I know leaving the conference was difficult. When students are exposed to other people they identify with, then they go back to places where they’re the only or the few, it’s sort of a hard wake-up call.”
Takeaways from NAIS Conference
Swann and Akande felt similarly of their experience at the People of Color Conference.
“For me, one of the nicest aspects of being at this particular conference at this particular time was that you kind of knew you were in this environment of people who are all girding themselves against what’s out there,” said Swann. “There’s an urgency to schools making all kids feel safe and feel like full-fledged members of the community.”
Inclusion and how schools can support all of their students was a major focus for the adult portion of the conference. NAIS shared data on how independent schools are faring in the tense political climate. Speakers offered many suggestions on things schools can do to affirm diversity within their own communities. Here are a few that stood out to Swann and Akande.
- “We talked about how we can engage students in whatever the theme of the year is – whether that’s empathy or something else — in our actual classes in terms of what we teach. Ideas of equity, justice, social justice, all of those things need to permeate more into what we do so that it’s not relegated to one meeting or one Diversity Day,” said Swann.
- “One interesting thing we talked about was parents being one of our biggest constituencies, so schools should have more opportunities to engage parents in some of these topics, like gender identity and fluidity, race and civil rights, etc,” said Akande.
- “One of the sessions I went to was about how to combine equity and justice with global studies. Whether you’re learning about France and its culture or another community within your larger community and its culture, that cultural intelligence is something we should be teaching kids. Culture can also mean racial background, ethnic background, religious background — all of these are part of your individual culture,” said Swann.
- “Bryan Stevenson talked about proximity, and how in order to be able to understand something, you have to be willing to get close to it. I think we can tie that theme of proximity more into our Year of Service program, so we don’t just raise some money and drop it off at Gleaners, but we actually stop and talk to people dealing with these situations or circumstances,” said Akande.
- “One of the things someone suggested is rather than have student organizations be political, have something like a Social Justice and Peace Club. In this, kids could learn what activism means and how they can make a difference. Put the focus outside of party lines and the school community,” said Swann.
University High School continues to emphasize diversity as the foremost core value among students and faculty. A Black History Month kickoff assembly was held in early February (read more about that assembly), and several students will attend the annual Student Diversity Conference at The Orchard School later this month.