For 6 years now, there has been an annual daylong workshop focusing on Identity, Race, Awareness & Cultural/Community Education. (Acronym: IRACE) This day was initiated by students and has been a student-planned, student-produced event ever since. The workshops include speakers and professors and professionals from around the region who work in areas of equity, social justice, and higher education.
For elementary students and classrooms, this is a day of talking about heritage, ancestry, and collaboration.
For adolescent students, IRACE day does include discussion about privilege in society, social bias, race & racism, the history of bias in the United States, and how we can contribute to a more just society. These discussions can be challenging, difficult, eye-opening, and inspiring.
The conversations regarding society & prejudice often bring to light tensions and challenges and injustice that we are aware of but are commonly avoided in polite conversation. Through dialogue, IRACE day has served to strengthen our community by giving a clear foundation for approaching the conflicts students experience in society related to identity, race, and prejudice.
I will communicate more about IRACE in the coming weeks, as we approach the date. A community highlight of the event includes keynote speeches from regional and national experts, as well as a highly anticipated community potluck. Parent volunteers are a huge reason why the day goes so well - watch for our call for volunteers to come out in the next couple weeks.
If you are interested in leading a workshop, please talk to an iRACE team member, Andrea CZ, or fill out this form online.
Clarification of communication sent on 2/1:
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 and perspectives of people of color that will provide opportunities 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: This year, the IRACE team has planned affinity group workshops as a focus of the afternoon. As the planning team articulated, creating a place where students of color can experience an open conversation about their experience related to race and identity is important. And, it can feel intimidating and unwelcoming to be one of a few non-white students in a room discussing bias, race, and inequity based on race in society.
The afternoon workshops aim to create safe environments for people of shared identity - including people of color - to share their experiences with others who have similar experiences. (For instance, people of similar heritage or social experience share a group conversation.) The use of affinity-focused workshops is a research-based practice that creates a strong sense of identity and improves 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 1964 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 workshops, like all classes, are open to all students of Great River School. No one can or will be excluded from any afternoon workshop that they may wish to attend.
Anyone who has inquiry or comments regarding IRACE can contact me directly: