A Pre-Kindergarten - Grade 12 co-educational independent day school in Westchester County, New York

RCDS | 150 Alumni Speaker Series Welcomes Eliza McCurdy '13

Alumna Eliza McCurdy '13 returned to campus last week to address students as part of the RCDS | 150 Alumni Speaker Series. McCurdy graduated from Georgetown University in May 2017 with a degree in Justice and Peace Studies. She is currently a senior re-entry specialist with The Osborne Association at Rikers Island, where she supervises a team of re-entry specialists who work directly with detainees, facilitating group programs designed to provide those incarcerated with skills ranging from anger management to financial literacy and relapse prevention. In her address to students in grades 3-12, Ms. McCurdy discussed many of the systemic flaws of the current criminal justice system, the disproportionate number of incarcerated individuals in the United States (particularly in terms of people of color), and shared different rehabilitation systems that have been proven to work in other countries.

Ms. McCurdy's discussion aligned with this year's RCDS school-wide focus on learning and understanding empathy. She discussed the process of understanding her own privilege in order to better connect with the experiences and challenges of her clients. Listen to her full address to Upper School students, below.

In addition to Ms. McCurdy's address, students and faculty gathered in small groups to participate in empathy exercises that focused on perspective taking, leaning into discomfort, standing up for justice, and using the power of one's voice and actions to make a change.