Celebrating and Honoring Diversity

Wow!, what a program that was put together for our annual Diversity Day celebration. Thanks so much to the staff and parents that worked so hard to put this together. This is such an important event for our school community. It is one outward manifestation of our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive community.

This year the committee chose the topic, "Movement of Change-Overcoming and Moving Beyond Segregation in Our Society." In part, this was to honor the 50th anniversary of the Woolworth "Sit-ins" in Greensboro.

The committee even outlined goals for the day:
Students will understand difficulties other people in their own community might have experienced or are currently experiencing based on race, religion, gender, economic situation, disability, etc.
Students will have the opportunity to listen, discuss, ask questions and become involved in a workshop dealing with a specific topic related to the theme.
Students will be able to identify something they can do (at their own level) to make a difference in helping the lives of others.

We began this morning with the entire community coming together for meeting for worship. Logie Meachum, a dynamic storyteller and singer and also a long time friend of NGFS, shared stories and wisdoms around the theme of "A Long Walk in the Night."

After meeting for worship there were a series of age-appropriate workshops conducted for students either at New Garden Friends Meeting, our Guilford campus or our Pleasant Ridge campus.

I didn't, and couldn't, get to every workshop. But I did get to hear a few of them. One from the Horizon age group, one from Rainbow and two for upper division students. Each was incredibly powerful. One at the upper division was a presentation by a Tuskegee Airman. There are only a handful of these airmen still alive. His story was so moving, his drive to accomplish the goal of being a pilot was unweilding. I think all of us who heard him were moved.

The entire day was such a strong statement of the so many good things about our community. Again thanks to those who made today possible: the volunteers, the presenters, and our students who were so attentive throughout the day.