Over the weekend, 37 RCDS students in Grades 8 – 12 gathered with over 200 students and faculty members from local independent schools to participate in the third annual Saturday Summit on Social Justice, a student-led event coordinated by RCDS Director of Diversity and Inclusion Ali Morgan and Masters School Director of Equity and Inclusion Karen Brown.

The all-day event included student-facilitated workshops and affinity groups about racism, classism, gender oppression, activism and more. Some of the topics discussed in the workshops were: Race vs. Ethnicity vs. Nationality; Code Switching: Convenience or Survival; Activism: The Importance of Student-Led Movements; #MeToo: Identifying and Confronting Sexism; Understanding Privilege; and Microaggressions and Implicit Bias.

The keynote was delivered by Natalie Gillard, the creator of FACTUALITY, a facilitated all-in-one dialogue, crash course, and board game that explores structural inequality based on national statistics. As part of the dialogue, students engaged in an empirically-supported simulation activity to explore the ways in which different social groups navigate our world.

The students that participated in the Summit showed their leadership and commitment to social justice, and their engagement in this meaningful program strengthened the local independent school community. Reflecting on the Summit, Mr. Morgan shared, "I am proud of our talented and committed students. They are all leaders in their own way. The Summit is designed to empower and encourage student agency, and the full day of activities is planned with this in mind. My proudest moment was watching our students take ownership over every aspect of the day. Special shout out to Ms. Drago for her unwavering support of our students as they led and participated in various workshops and affinity groups. We are already looking forward to next year."