91̽��

The Community Engagement Shoparound (sign-up fair) starts today! It runs virtually through Friday via students’ Campus Groups accounts. Student co-heads Christian Westphal ‘21 and Nina Kathiresan ‘21 say interested students can take a look and sign up on the Google form if they would like to make a weekly commitment. “Visits” with the 20+ partners will all be via Zoom. Some volunteer opportunities include:

A virtual Convocation officially kicked off the 2020–2021 school year on Tuesday, with 91̽�� students joining from all over the world to hear School leaders’ vision for the year. 

The event, a longstanding 91̽�� tradition, provided co-head monitors Eliza Dunn ’21 and Garvin McLaughlin ’21 their first opportunity to formally address the Upper School. Students also heard remarks from Head of School Todd Bland, Upper School Principal David Ball, Director of Spirituality and Community Development Suzanne DeBuhr, Dean of Students José Ruiz, and Director of Equity Vanessa Cohen Gibbons, and introductions from new members of the faculty.

Although it was a summer unlike any other, many students found ways to do community and social justice work, both remotely and in person. Four students, all Community Engagement board leaders, participated in a virtual seven-week program run by the National Network of Schools in Partnership. Nina Kathiresan ’21, Kayla Mathieu ’21, Conner Hartman ’21, and Jaden Thompson ’23 worked on issues including homelessness, food insecurity with students from across the U.S, who were grouped into task forces. Hartman and Mathieu worked together on the same subcommittee called Demographics in Education. 

“We produced the Rezoning Project, which aimed to inform, advocate, and share stories regarding the issues surrounding zoning inequality in public education,” said Hartman. “We were struck by the statistic that, on average, nonwhite districts received about $2,200 less per student than districts that were predominantly white, adding up to $23 billion less overall.” 

Hartman said it was “extremely inspiring working with students from all over the country. Unlike 91̽��, a lot of the schools represented didn’t have community engagement programs. Hearing their experiences of inequality and powerful examples of civic engagement in communities hundreds of miles away from 91̽�� really opened my eyes to the possibilities of what we can do with our program.”

91̽��’s most ambitious campaign in School history, Dare: The Campaign for 91̽��, concluded on June 30. Dare made a commitment to the people of 91̽��, with student financial aid and faculty recruitment and retention named as top priorities, along with support for the 91̽�� Fund and campus improvements.

“We launched Dare to put 91̽�� on a firm financial foundation,” Head of School Todd Bland said. “When we began the campaign in 2015, our endowment was two to three times smaller than our peer schools. By growing our endowment, we are making a commitment to investing in our students and faculty today and to securing 91̽��’s future.”