"We prepare students to engage in the world that is and to help bring about a world that ought to be."
A Day to Explore, Transform, and Reflect
The morning panel, “An Exploration of Gender on the Path to Equity” featured Will Hopkins (Associate Head of School for Teaching and Learning), Kaleo Grant (Extended Programs Coordinator), Anita Dolce Vita (style writer, speaker, event producer and Publisher and Creative Director, dapperQ), Janah Boccio, and Masha Zabara (co-founder, Thrift 2 Fight). Co-Clerks of the Upper School’s Diversity, Equity and Belonging Committee, Ruby '23 and Indy ‘24, served as discussion moderators, and asked a series of questions in regards to gender constructs and their limitations. From skirts in school to boyish haircuts to the impact of stop and frisk, the group reflected on and unpacked a range of complex feelings of first realizing their own gender.
The day continued with various class meetings and guided discussions with advisories and concluded with Meeting for Worship, where Upper Schoolers paused to reflect.
Between the sessions, the Day of Concern hosted a number of affinity groups and breakout workshops facilitated by thought leaders, mentors, faculty and staff. The titles of those workshops include:
- Mi Yo Dolls/My Me Muñecas
- Exploring Gender through Drama
- Surveying the Spectrum!: Sex, Gender, and Presentation
- Good Man, Real Man
- Brother Man: The Mask of Black & Latino Masculinity
- Gender Performance at Friends
- Being an Asian Male in 2023
- Unpacking Asian Female Identity: Collage & Chat
- Is This Mic On?: A Lyrical Analysis of Black Women Protest Musicians
- Real Women vs “Good Girls”: Lean Into Your Voice & Your Power
- Real Women vs “Good Girls”: Lean Into Your Voice & Your Power
- “Yarn”ing for Liberation - Knitting as Activism
- Is Biology Binary?
- Ungendered Fashion
- [ ]-fluid: Fashion, Spaces, Choices
- Toward a Radical Redefinition of Beauty
- Abortion Access in a Post-Roe Landscape
The Day of Concern helps set important foundational understanding for students and promotes deeper thinking in preparation for Peace Week 2023, focused on gender equity.
Friends Seminary actively promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in all its programs and operations, including admissions, financial aid, hiring, and all facets of the educational experience. To form a community which strives to reflect the world’s diversity, we do not discriminate on the basis of race or color, religion, nationality, ethnicity, economic background, physical ability, sex, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation. Friends Seminary is an equal opportunity employer.
Friends Seminary — the oldest continuously operated, coeducational school in NYC — serves college-bound day students in Kindergarten-Grade 12.
