On Sunday, April 23, 27 students represented Choate at the annual Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) held at the Loomis Chaffee School. This conference consisted of students from various independent schools across Connecticut, both day and boarding. “Our school brought a diverse group of kids, which is great. I think it would be awesome to get even more students and different groups of students involved,” remarked Mr. Charlie Fuentes, faculty organizer and Adviser to Students of Color.
Director of Equity and Inclusion Dr. Keith Hinderlie, adviser to SPECTRUM Mb Duckett Ireland, and Mr. Fuentes accompanied the students to the conference. Mr. Fuentes described the event as “a space where students feel comfortable to speak about different issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion.” This being his first year as an Adviser to Students of Color, Mr. Fuentes was excited to be able to participate in SDLC this spring. He has previously attended partner conferences such as The People of Color Conference.
Through attending these events, he noticed that there are many key tools that the students can take from conferences of this nature, such as “understanding what other people are going through and at the same time being welcoming to those different stories.” He added, “There are vocabulary things, like when we are talking about race, what it means to be Latino or gender non-conforming. Those are different terms that we might not have conversations about, but we should.”
Early Sunday morning, a bus departed for Loomis, where the students spent the whole day in small and large groups comprised of many different students; they discussed social problems they have each faced and ways to effectively confront these issues. Kamsi Iloeje ’19 said, “The whole point was to get conversations started about different topics, and I think they did a good job with that.” She did, however, wish that they had more time to finish their discussions.
Lloyd Williams ’18, another Choate representative, got involved this year because he has become increasingly passionate about issues regarding diversity. He explained, “Three other boys and I wanted to initiate a Men of Color affinity group, sort of like RISE, to get a bonding situation started with the men of color on campus. That’s why we started to consider going to the conference.”
Matt Lacey ’18, who also attended the conference, said he enjoyed talking to a wide variety of people about issues of diversity. “It reminded me a lot of a more expanded-upon Choate Diversity Day with a bunch of different schools,” he said. Both Williams and Lacey commended the conference for providing a safe space to voice opinions and personal experiences.
Many attendees felt that listening to people tell their stories, express their ideas, and provide insight to certain topics promoted a sense of understanding within the groups. A select few were chosen to be facilitators. As facilitators, they will encourage other students to think more critically about their school’s diversity and how they can address many of the issues discussed at the conference.
