Last year we established an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion group for Unquowa parents to help ensure that our community is effectively serving families and students of all identities, cultures and backgrounds. this group has been meeting monthly to discuss opportunities to celebrate and recognize the unique identities that Unquowa families represent. This fall we organized a student Equity, Diversity and Inclusion group to allow kids to participate in these important discussions. The first joint initiative that these two groups took on was to highlight Hispanic Heritage Month in October and Native American History Month in November during assembly and lunch.

The parent group hosted its first event, Family Read Night, which invited families and students of all ages to come and share books featuring diverse characters not traditionally represented in children’s literature. It was a fun and rejuvenating night that demonstrated the importance of representation and the value of sharing universal and timeless stories.

The student group sponsored an optional field experience to the photo and text exhibit, Love Makes a Family, hosted by Greens Farms Academy. Interested students viewed the exhibit and then discussed their preconceptions of what families look like and how stereotypes limit those definitions. It was a powerful and touching experience.

We are currently partnering with the Akomawt Educational Initiative to bring Native American curricular resources to our students in an effort to be culturally responsive and offer a more accurate representation in our study of history. Finally, the student group is preparing to attend the Student Diversity Leadership Conference in April where 7th-12th grade students from Connecticut independent schools meet to discuss issues of equity and diversity. We welcome all Unquowa parents and students to come to meetings as they are able, and to participate in these ongoing conversations. Our hope is that we can continue to cultivate a space where everyone fees supported, seen, and valued and that the ideas that blossom from this work will ultimately benefit our entire community.