Hey everyone!
An announcement regarding the Identity, Race, Awareness, & Community Education (IRACE) event on March 22nd.
This is a call for students to lead workshops at our 2017 IRACE Summit in the morning. These will be workshops at 10:00 am, and 11:00 am on March 22nd (Wednesday before Spring Break).
The IRACE planning team is focusing on POC empowerment and belonging at GRS and in the Twin Cities. The IRACE planning team has invited student leaders from other schools around the twin cities to join an empowering and safe environment in which to discuss, learn and celebrate anti-racism work. We are confident that we can move forward as a unified school with respect, grace, and courtesy.
If you are interested in leading a workshop, please talk to an iRACE team member, Andrea CZ, or fill out this form online.
As a clarification from Sam O'Brien, Head of School:
After lunch on March 22nd, there will be an option for all students for afternoon workshops. There will be affinity workshops focusing on the experiences of people of color and perspectives for students of color to share experiences. There will also be general CAS workshops in the afternoon for all students to reflect, learn, and explore ways to better understand identity in society and self-reflection.
Regarding the affinity workshops: These workshops aim to create safe environments for people of shared identity to share their experiences with others who have similar experiences. (For instance, people of similar heritage or social experience share a group conversation.) These affinity-focused workshops are research-based practices that create a strong sense of identity and improve the ability of a community. For more information about the practice and purpose of affinity groups, see:
Teaching Tolerance: Affinity Group Toolkit
Identity, Affinity, Reality: affinity groups improve school culture
Research on affinity groups increasing outcomes in higher education
Affinity groups for dominant culture students
All workshops will be respectful, and while specific affinity groups are designed to create an environment for students who share similar identity, Great River School will follow all requirements under the law for open access to education. (Specifically, see Title VI of the Civil Rights Bill)
Regardless of the groups of students that are being focused on during workshops, I want to make it very clear to the entire Great River School Community that that all iRace afternoon workshops, like all classes, are open to students of Great River School. No one can or will be excluded from any afternoon workshop that they may wish to attend.