Marist School continues the work to foster a community of inclusion and belonging.
As a Catholic and a Marist institution, Marist School embraces the United States Council of Catholic Bishops’ pastoral letter, Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love, which calls for us to continuously work toward ongoing conversion to be free of racism and all forms of discrimination. As such, we focus tirelessly on our efforts to be a community characterized by equity and justice. It is in this way that we fulfill our vital mission and reflect the important Marist value of ardent love of neighbor daily.
A Marist student should…help build communities where the dignity of the person is manifest.”
- #216, Society of Mary United States Province: Criteria of a Marist School
A Message from Marist School Leadership
The 2021-2022 school year has been a refreshing one in many ways, not only because it has felt mostly “normal” after the throes of the pandemic, but also because we have made significant progress with our work to build the inclusive school community our mission calls us to have. We have remained steadfastly focused on cultivating a sense of respect and belonging for all community members as we shared in our Spring 2021 Progress Update. We have built upon this work, and we share our significant progress and most recent action steps below. Our aim remains the same: to nurture a school community that celebrates the beauty and blessings of diversity and where we accept each other as being in the likeness of God. We will do whatever it takes to make that goal a consistent reality.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Bill Rowland, S.M., President
Mr. Kevin Mullally, Principal
Below is an update on the following:
Fearless Dialogues Partnership
Strengthening Cultural Competency for Faculty & Staff
Cultivating Students’ Capacity for Empathy
Ongoing Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Efforts
New Director of Inclusion & Diversity
Fearless Dialogues Partnership
Our two-year partnership with cultural competency experts Fearless Dialogues comes to a successful completion with the end of the 2021-2022 academic year. Through a variety of initiatives, the Fearless Dialogues team has helped us to advance a culture of openness built upon trust, accountability, and mutual support for all members of our school community. Our Spring 2021 Progress Update recounted details of the program and curriculum audits, faculty/staff training, and student experiential learning sessions executed during the first year of the partnership.
During the second year of the partnership, activities focused primarily on student engagement. For new students, Fearless Dialogues helped Marist launch an orientation workshop to set expectations and cultural norms of the Marist School community. For all students, Fearless Dialogues led grade-level workshops targeted at helping students learn to address the fears that stifle hard conversations. Through interactive experiments and small-group dialogues at follow-up workshops, students learned strategies to see and uplift the God-given gifts in those they encounter at school and beyond. Fearless Dialogues’ Founder and Executive Director Rev. Dr. Gregory Ellison gave students this homework assignment: “Use your gifts to draw out the gifts of others. Imagine what Marist would be like if together we embody the courage to embrace all the gifts in this community.” Living up to this challenge is paramount for Marist students to be the faith-filled, global-ready servant leaders they are called to be.
Strengthening Cultural Competency for Faculty & Staff
In addition to the focused work we have done with students providing programming and opportunities aimed at developing their awareness of and leadership in areas of diversity and inclusion, we also are directing efforts at the cultural competency of the faculty and staff at Marist using the Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®). The IDI assesses intercultural competence—the capability to shift cultural perspective and appropriately adapt behavior based on cultural differences and commonalities.
During the 2021-2022 academic year, all faculty and staff answered the 50-item IDI questionnaire that placed them, and our school, on a continuum of cross-cultural competence. By understanding where we are on the continuum, we can begin to identify and lift up the cultural differences in our community and learn to recognize and embrace them. Possessing the common language and experience of the IDI, we can work to develop our mindsets and skills to face our challenges and grow as we work to accomplish our goal of an inclusive community. We will continue to revisit the IDI tool and will ask new employees to take the questionnaire to continue our forward movement on this very important issue.
Cultivating Students’ Capacity for Empathy
Marist’s new Goizueta Center for Immersive Experience and Design, which opened in August 2020, provides the perfect tool for faculty to utilize to help build students’ capacity for empathy, which Marist has identified as essential for preparing students to be global-ready servant leaders. The Goizueta Center’s Immersive Theater, with its virtual and augmented reality technology, has been the epicenter for interactive experiences that broaden students’ perspectives and enhance their understanding of other cultures. During the 2021-2022 academic year, the space has been transformed into a Mexican art exhibit centered on the works of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, a joyful German Christmas market, an interactive exhibit delving into the mystery of the Incarnation, an interdisciplinary experience of the sights, sounds, words, and individuals central to the Harlem Renaissance, and an exhilarating exploration of movement and dance. These experiences allow students to step beyond the physical boundaries of Marist School to begin to comprehend and appreciate the common humanity across the globe.
Ongoing Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Efforts
Marist School has been designated a No Place for Hate for the 2021-2022 school year. No Place for Hate is a national student-led K-12 school climate improvement program that has helped build learning communities of inclusivity, respect, and equity for more than 20 years.
In the year ahead, we will...
- Evaluate the overall student experience at Marist via a survey to provide data on how welcomed and included students feel at our school, among other things
- Increase the Director of Inclusion and Diversity’s involvement with students
- Evaluate the goals and effectiveness of the Diversity Summit for students
- Expand the use of the Goizueta Center for Immersive Experience and Design to cultivate student empathy.
Looking Forward
Marist School is pleased to introduce Aaron Hill, who will join the faculty as director of inclusion and diversity beginning with the 2022-2023 academic year. Hill will head up Marist’s Office of Inclusion and Diversity, which develops programming to weave cultural proficiency and inclusion throughout the school community. He will ensure the school’s commitment to its Diversity Statement through curricular and co-curricular programs and policies that engage, educate, and direct students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni in areas of diversity, equity, justice, and inclusion as they relate to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Hill has previously worked as an administrator and educator in Maryland, Georgia, and Virginia. Most recently, he was head of middle school at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland. An accomplished musician, Hill was director of bands at Smithfield High School in Smithfield, Virginia, and, prior to that, he held the position of dean of students/head of upper school at Hampton Roads Academy in Newport News, Virginia. In Georgia, he worked at Woodward Academy where he was director of student activities. Hill pursued his career with independent schools after retiring from a 22-year career in the United States Army where he was a member of the U.S. Army Band. He has served on the faculty of the Student Diversity Leadership Conference and will continue to do so while at Marist School.
We are pleased to welcome Aaron Hill to Marist School. With his background and extensive experience, he will further strengthen the school’s work to foster a just and inclusive environment in keeping with our vital mission to form young people in the image of Christ and our strategic vision to prepare students to be global-ready servant leaders who will lead and serve with compassion, integrity, and a sense of purpose.”
- Kevin Mullally, Principal
We look forward to providing future updates on the work we’re doing in this important area. To share ideas and feedback with us, please email info@marist.com.