A group of six U-High students learned about making an impact on diversity, equity and inclusion at the NAIS People of Color Conference in Denver from Dec. 4-7.
With a theme of “Lifting As We Climb: Elevating Our Schools Through Love and Justice,” students participated in workshops, conferences and collaborated with others to learn more about how they can incorporate DEI into their daily and school lives.
Senior Kaavya Peddinti said that the theme helped her understand more about justice.
“Now that we were able to think about justice in a different way, I thought it was really interesting, as they said justice is being sure that you are aware of your surroundings and being there for one another,” Kaavya said.
She said that being in specific affinity groups helped her feel more represented, and included, as those were where some of the activities and discussions took place.
“I have never seen that many South Asians in the same room,” Kaavya said, “I did feel represented when people were talking about DEI because I feel like a lot of the time South Asians aren’t represented in the minority and I feel like people were there to appreciate that aspect as well.”
Sophomore Savannah Woodson also thought that the conference helped her learn more about DEI and feel represented.
“There were many affinity groups, and I was with 500 other Black kids,” Savannah said.
During the conference, U-High students also learned about how to incorporate what they learned about DEI into improving Lab assemblies.
Savannah said, “Some people aren’t excited to go to DEI assemblies anymore, and we’re finding ways to make the assemblies more interactive for students in our school.”