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Eddie Glaude, Jr. addresses CA Students

Community

Acclaimed scholar guides students through the lessons of Martin Luther King’s final years

January 13, 2021

On Wednesday, Cary Academy, in partnership with Durham Academy, proudly welcomed acclaimed scholar Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr. as part of its Upper School Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Observance.  

In an inspiring and thought-provoking keynote address “Lessons from the Later Dr. King,” Dr. Glaude offered a complex and nuanced representation of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and work, ultimately issuing a call to action for us all to strive towards creating the Beloved Community– a society based on justice, equal opportunity, and love of one’s fellow human beings – that King envisioned.

Glaude argues that, for most Americans, the image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is frozen in time. We easily think of him as the leader of the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott or as the passionate preacher delivering “I Have a Dream” in 1963. Dr. Glaude, however, offered students a look at another facet of the MLK story: Dr. King’s later and final years — when he was doubtful and felt that the country had turned its back on him.

Five years after “I Have a Dream,” King was grappling with despair and disillusionment over the country’s direction — a sentiment he shared with James Baldwin, one of the 20th century’s greatest writers and chroniclers of the Black experience. When the two men met a few months before Dr. King’s murder, both were desperately trying to re-narrate the civil rights movement and change the consciousness of America.

Dr. Glaude examines this critical juncture in the life of Martin Luther King Jr., and what we all must do to make America live up to its promise. “We long for a Dr. King or an Abe Lincoln, because we don’t see our own capabilities as being sufficient,” Glaude has said. “History converged in a way that called Dr. King forward, and he answered the call. That can happen with anybody. We don’t need another Martin Luther King. We need everyday, ordinary people. We are the leaders we’ve been looking for.”

Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. His most well-known books, Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, and In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America, take a wide look at black communities, the difficulties of race in the United States, and the challenges our democracy face. His most recent book, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, was released in June 2020. Glaude holds a bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College, a master’s degree in African American Studies from Temple University, and a Ph.D. in Religion from Princeton University. He is a columnist for Time Magazine, an MSNBC contributor, and regularly appears on Meet the Press.

This event was co-hosted by Cary Academy’s Director of Equity and Community Engagement, Danielle Johnson-Webb and Durham Academy’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Engagement, Kemi Nonez, and sponsored by Cary Academy’s PTAA.

Written by Dan Smith, Digital Content Producer and Social Media Manager

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Dialogue bubbles

CA Curious

Together towards understanding

October 1, 2020

At Cary Academy, we respect and honor that each member of our community has their own unique beliefs, values, experiences, and perspectives. We credit that diversity as one of our greatest strengths and are committed to creating an empathetic community strengthened by our differences and connected by trust. 

As the political climate increases in tension, we want to continue to offer ways to build connection and understanding across groups and social circles so that, regardless of the outcome in November, we can be together as a school community that supports and cares for one another.

One of the ways that we build that trust and connection as a community is through our Dialogue Across Difference initiative. Over the next 4 weeks, leading up to the election, CA will hold weekly dialogues in the Upper School. The topics of the first two dialogues were chosen by the student body.  The purpose of these first two dialogues is both to offer space to connect with different students about their experiences on topics of interest–and to continue to build the muscle of having challenging conversations as a community.  

For these first two dialogues, CA facilitators reached out to the Upper School student body–talking to over 60 students from various clubs, groups, and unaffiliated community members–to learn more about what students were interested in dialoguing about.  Although there were several areas of interest, there were three topics that had a majority. Upper School students will be asked to participate in both sessions of one of the following dialogues.

Understanding Our Experiences of Gender at CA

  • Oct. 7th: Diving into the complexity of our narratives around gender

Participants in this dialogue will be grouped by gender: male, female and nonbinary

  • Oct. 14th: Understanding each other and our experiences of gender

Participants in this dialogue will be in mixed groups of gender

Working together towards racial equity at CA

Reflecting on our own experiences and hearing from of other Students of Color

Students of Color are invited to join this dialogue

Reflecting on how I engage as an ally

Students that identify themselves as Allies are invited to join this dialogue

  • Oct. 14th: Coming together to work for racial equity

Participants in this dialogue will be in mixed groups of racial identities

Stress, Anxiety and Mental Health as a CA Student 

Any student is invited to join this dialogue

Any student is invited to join this dialogue

The second two dialogues (dates TBA) will be explicitly about how we are dealing with the heightened tensions of this election season and how we want to be together afterwards.

This effort is being spearheaded by the Center for Community Engagement in partnership with our Student Director of Dialogue and Open Discussion, Meirav Solomon (’20), who has been extensively trained in different dialogue techniques. She brings a transformative passion to the work that aims to leave a legacy for our community. In her words:

I am super excited and motivated to provide CA students with the necessary empathetic, authentic, and uncomfortable spaces that hold dialogue. Dialogue not only teaches you how to interact and understand more deeply those around you. It also teaches you more about the world around you and yourself. I think dialogue is super important to my growth as a student, a global citizen and a human being. I have learned to listen, I have learned to speak out, I have learned how to access my stretch zone (where I feel uncomfortable speaking but not turned off) and I have learned where my limits are. Dialogue has taught me so much and I am so excited to see what CA students learn and understand after their first two dialogue days: October 7 and 14.

Written by Danielle Johnson-Webb, Director of Equity and Community Enagagement

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Flex Day

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Flex Day Vastly Expands Our Options at CA

August 27, 2020

Innovation is a hallmark of Cary Academy; you can’t have DICE without it! The school’s ability to innovate with grace has probably never been tested so much as in the last six months; the challenges associated with educating students during a global pandemic have forced us to re-imagine both what we do and why we do it. 

Some of the adaptations we have made are, if not easy, at least no-brainers: we’ll wear masks, amp up cleaning protocols, stop using water fountains, etc. In the area of curriculum, we have made an array of choices about what material is core, or less crucial, and teachers have done the hard work necessary to translate their lessons into modes of delivery that can span the digital spectrum. 

But in case you missed it, we also pulled a rabbit out of the COVID-hat. Along with changes required for easy switching between in-person and virtual learning modes, we also used this time of crisis to accelerate a change we have dreamed about making for years. 

I’m talking about FLEX DAY, y’all! (woot, woot!) 

It’s a BIG alteration…a quantum leap, really. From a schedule that sometimes groaned under the weight of frequently altered days, the stealing of minutes from core classes for an assembly here, a special program there, we have carved out an entire day in the middle of our busy weeks for…what, exactly? 

The answer to that is, at this point, only dimly glimpsed, but we do have dreams, and we now have the ability to make them come true. 

Imagine Flex Day operating differently for different members of our community. The variations are myriad: 

  • The senior who missed out on Work Experience last year might find an internship possibility—virtual or in-person—and find the prospective employer is happy to have her work on Wednesdays each week. Flex Day makes this possible! 
  • The sixth grader who loves building robots for competition might find that Flex Days are the perfect time to get immersed in that work. 
  • The Outdoors Club has already used our first two Flex Day to take day hikes in Umstead Park, inviting experienced and novice hikers to begin learning skills they can apply to future overnight trips. 
  • Our Delta Service Club committees might use a Flex Day to glean potatoes for a food pantry, build houses with Habitat, or host a blood drive. 
  • A current sophomore has requested Flex Day hours to complete her book on Gen Z and personal finance; she will be interviewing experts and completing the chapter edits. 
  • Any C.A. staff member with a particular area of expertise (e.g., coding, photography, salsa dancing) might offer a one-shot class or a mini-course over a series of Flex Days. 
  • An eighth-grader and a group of friends who are thinking about starting a new business might use Flex Day hours for fleshing out their plan and seeking venture capital. 
  • The Center for Community Engagement, which is coordinating Flex Days, might offer a special program, like a speaker on racial justice, a musical workshop, or an artist-in-residence able to interact with students and entertain their questions. 
  • Upper School students might teach a skill to or mentor Middle School students. This was difficult before, but it should be easy now! 
  • And, to be clear, some students will need Flex Day time to catch up on college essays or academic work; if that’s the best use of their Flex Day time, that is perfectly fine with us. 

What makes this variety possible is that our Wednesdays will truly be flexible. With no regularly-scheduled classes or other set commitments, students and employees have a big canvas on which to create the kinds of experiential learning that Cary Academy has called for ever since the adoption of our last strategic plan in 2015. We have not stood still since then, but we had virtually exhausted the possibilities in a schedule that was starting to feel a little like a straitjacket. 

Flex Day frees us to try new things and to do more of the things that we know are good for students. So, we’re excited and curious to see where we go with this. I would be lying, however, if I said we knew for sure. Some of our colleagues, and maybe some CA parents, have understandable questions about accountability—how can we know for sure where every CA student is on Wednesdays? How can we guarantee these are days filled with learning, not just another 5 hours of Fortnite? Importantly, how can we ensure the benefits of Flex Day can be enjoyed by all students equitably, especially with limits created by the pandemic? 

To some extent, the answers to these questions depend on all of us—employees, students, and parents. CA advisors will make time to check in with advisees about their Flex Day plans and whether they follow through. They will be able to know fairly soon which students are taking advantage of the various opportunities offered by employees and their peers, and perhaps which students need additional encouragement or support to engage. We do not want Flex Day to feel like another burden or chore, but we know every student is capable of identifying some activities or ideas worth exploring and giving them a shot. 

What does this look like on a practical level? We will get better at this and increase the variety of offerings as we grow into it, but the first week looked like this: 

  • About 215 Upper School students participated in at least one Flex Day event.
  • All MS students participated in either in-person (6th) or virtual (7th & 8th) events. MS events were a mix of required and chosen sessions.
  • All MS faculty and about 1/3 of US faculty had a hand in planning or participated in in-person and virtual events 

Keep in mind that, for now, we will be hampered by the need to remain socially-distanced on campus. These first Flex Day plans rely more heavily on virtual events than we hope will be necessary for most of the year. (fingers-crossed emoji!) But even while we’re responsibly practicing the three W’s, we can start exploring and creating, discovering and innovating. 

As a school, we are always looking for ways for our students to grow. Flex Day will allow students to practice owning their learning every week. Students who own their learning gain skills that allow them to recover from failing, become deeper problem solvers and thinkers, learn how to manage projects and collaborate, and grow into lifelong learners. These are skills that will carry over to college and life beyond. 

The deeper goals for Flex Day are profound, and we think worthwhile. In the future, C.A. graduates will have learned to excel not just at tasks set for them by adults, but also in realms they helped to imagine and bring to fruition. In a time of crisis, or when we settle into our new “normal”, those are skills we know our students will treasure.  

Written by J. Michael McElreath, Experiential Learning Director

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CoExist

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The Work Ahead

August 20, 2020

Photo: The leaders of CoExist (l to r): Sarah George ’21, Clay Thornton ’21, Vibhav Nandagiri ’21. Not pictured: Jordan Cuffee ’21.

This summer, we issued a letter to the community reaffirming our values and reiterating CA’s longstanding commitment to the hard—at times uncomfortable—introspective work of diversity, equity, and inclusion that have been core values since we first opened our doors. We pledged to be part of the solution and to work together to engage in anti-racist work to ensure that CA is a safe space for all our students to thrive.   

As you may have noticed in your social media feeds, in recent months, “Dear@” and “Black@” Instagram accounts have popped up all over the country. These accounts are part of a powerful national movement, as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and their allies share their experiences, rightfully calling independent schools and universities across the United States to account for their roles in perpetuating systemic racism.   

We know from stories shared within our community that CA is not exempt from this charge. Despite a longstanding commitment and history of anti-racist work, we have not been perfect. There is much work to be done, and we are committed to taking it up.   

We recently responded to a newly-launched DearCaryAcademy Instagram. I’ll be honest. These posts are difficult to read and reckon with. Introspection is crucial to anti-racist work, even (especially) when it is difficult. The experiences reported in these posts, however, are crucially important to hear, to acknowledge, and to discuss, process, and address as a community. That’s also why we have been soliciting stories from BIPOC members of our community on our anti-racism action page.   

We hope that owners of this account will be open to formally partnering in our anti-racist efforts, much as we partnered with our alums and parents of alums this summer in a series of listening Zoom calls. In those calls, alums and parents of alums were offered a safe space to share their experiences and perspectives. Being able to have those conversations openly and transparently has been instrumental in allowing us to be more effective and responsive and to chart the critical work that lies ahead this year (you can follow our evolving anti-racist work and planning at http://united.cary.academy/anti-racism/.)  

Indeed, some of the most challenging work that lies ahead is in creating a community where we can dialog openly and honestly about these painful matters. Where we can protect and respect BIPOC as they come forward to share what might be painful, scary, even traumatic, experiences, while also discussing, processing, and addressing them as a community. Only then that we will be able to heal, to learn, and to grow.  

To that end, this year, I am particularly excited to work in partnership with CA’s revamped CoExist Committee. Led by Clay Thornton ’21, Jordan Cuffee ’21, Vibhav Nandagiri ’21, Sarah George ’21, and Student Dialogue Leader Meirav Solomon ‘21, this group represents a passionate group of students working on behalf of their peers. They feel it imperative for young people to have a voice; they are dedicated to ensuring that alums ten years from now have a different, more positive experience than those who came before them.  

Central to their efforts is creating a safe space for intersectional dialogues, where we can work together across our differences to discuss and address hard topics in meaningful ways. This is foundational and crucial anti-racist work, and Meirav has been hard at work planning dialogues in partnership with our affinity groups and student clubs, like the Campus Conservatives.   

I could write for hours about the work that lies ahead of us, but instead, I would like you to hear from our Chief Student Diversity Officer, Clay Thornton:  

My name is Clay Thornton and I am a current senior at Cary Academy (Class of 2021). I am honored to serve this year as Cary Academy’s Chief Student Diversity Officer, or CSDO for short, a role committed to fostering a diverse, equitable environment for our community by leading Cary Academy’s CoExist club. This year, however, I am not leading CoExist alone. For the first time, Cary Academy has established a CoExist council to bolster my role as CSDO, comprising of my fellow Class of 2021 members Jordan Cuffee, Sarah George, and Vibhav Nandagiri. CoExist provides a space for members of the Cary Academy community to learn about and engage with diverse perspectives and identities through dialogue, workshops, and affinity groups. We provide an intersectional curriculum that encourages students to create and foster a better, more equitable CA community. By equipping students with the necessary tools to understand and respect different perspectives and identities, we prepare students to effectively collaborate and build relationships in their future beyond CA. While CoExist is a longstanding club within the CA community, the CoExist council is working this year to rebrand CoExist to match the current needs of the community.  

This school year will be unlike any year we have seen before. Not only must we adapt to the necessary protocols regarding the COVID-19 global pandemic, but we must also prepare opportunities for students to productively explore the tension throughout the United States. Disagreements over health protocols are omnipresent. Civil unrest, including protests against police brutality and racial injustice, has emerged in every major American city. Political tensions are boiling over as Biden and Trump begin their gruesome political warfare, marching quickly towards November 3rd. Americans are truly living in a historic moment, one filled with tension and in desperate need of cohesion. In an effort to find this cohesion, CoExist is pivoting to an introspective agenda. This year, more than ever, CoExist should focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Cary Academy community. CoExist believes that this change will allow students to separate the high-tension experience with equity work in our nation from the equity work happening within our school community. For this reason, a new Social Justice club, unaffiliated with CoExist, has been started at Cary Academy, dedicated to educating students on the societal issues of our nation, as well as organizing ways for students to be catalysts for change. CoExist, however, will host dialogues, workshops, and affinity group meetings, not to discuss policy or politics, but rather to determine what we can change about ourselves and our community to make Cary Academy a place of which we can all be proud.   

Striving for a diverse, inclusive Cary Academy community is not a question of liberal or conservative. It is not an issue of democrats versus republicans. It is instead a commitment to embracing our differences, fostering collaboration, and celebrating our many identities. I hope this pivot will encourage more students, faculty, and staff to make this commitment because, if we all work together, we can create long-lasting, meaningful change within the Cary Academy community.  

Written by Danielle Johnson-Webb, Director of Equity and Community Engagement and Clay Thornton ’21, Chief Student Diversity Officer

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Student entrepreneurs win Power Pitch Award from the Conrad Challenge

June 4, 2020

Congratulations to team Nexkap on being named Power Pitch Winners in the Conrad Challenge’s Smoke-Free World, Repurposed Farmlands & Tobacco Crops category at last week’s virtual Innovation Summit! The Nexkap team, comprised of Cary Academy students Mila Patel ’21, Natasha Sachar ’22, Sonia Shah ’22, and Ella Gupta ’23, was coached by Upper School English and Entrepreneurship teacher Palmer Seeley.

This year was Cary Academy’s first time participating in the Conrad Challenge, an annual, multi-phase innovation and entrepreneurship competition held by the Conrad Foundation. Each year, small teams of students, ages 13-18, from around the world create products and/or services to address some of the most pressing global and local challenges. They become entrepreneurial problem-solvers, designing the future while addressing challenging social, scientific and societal issues through utilizing their creativity and critical-thinking skills.

Nexkap built a business model sustainably repurposing tobacco crops to address skincare needs and support one of North Carolina’s traditional agricultural crops. See their award-winning pitch here:

The third and final round of the Conrad Challenge was held virtually May 27-29. Each team of finalists participated by engaging in fifteen minutes of Q&A with the judges and staffing their virtual booth during their competition category’s Expo Open House. The virtual Innovation Summit allowed participants to attend the Cosmic Chats with professional innovators and connect with one another through open networking time and Connection and Creation sessions facilitated by the Conrad Foundation Alumni Leadership Council.

The “Power Pitch” awards were earned by the teams who best presented their virtual pitch to the panel of judges, along with their peers and industry professionals.

Cary Academy’s Center for Community Engagement partnered with the NCCU School of Law’s Intellectual Property Law Clinic to provide guidance and feedback to the students as they prepared a provisional patent filing with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. 

Written by Dan Smith, Digital Content Producer and Social Media Manager

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Community

Affirming our values in trying times

June 1, 2020

Dear CA Community, 

It has been a challenging, painful, and scary week for our country and our community. 

Amid such emotion, it can be hard to find the right words to give hope and comfort. Writing on behalf of Cary Academy, we must try – as now is not the time to sit in silence. 

Recent events, including the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Atatiana Jefferson, and the unnerving incident with Amy Cooper—who made a false accusation against a black birdwatcher in Central Park—have laid bare not only the overt physical danger but also the insidious, systemic racism still facing people of color.

At Cary Academy, we are proud of our words and deeds regarding diversity, inclusion, and equity. We have held workshops on implicit bias. We have welcomed speakers such as Peggy McIntosh to campus to speak on white privilege. Regardless, we must recognize that the private act in the woods of Central Park by a self-proclaimed liberal white woman showed that racism transcends political parties and unearthed more than fault lines within our ability to build trust. It exposed a chasm.   

We recognize that there is much work to be done by white people. Racism in the United States is no less a crisis, no less pressing, and presents no less a threat to our society and our community than the current coronavirus pandemic. And it must be met with the same sense of urgency and thoughtful, proactive response.

Many black people in our community are grieving, fearful, angry, and distrustful. Many do not feel safe. We recognize this fear, pain, and anger. We grieve with you. We are angry alongside you. And, representing Cary Academy’s Leadership Team and Board of Directors, we remain committed to listening, earning and building your trust, and ensuring your safety through ongoing community and anti-racism work.

We will not be silent or cave to hopelessness. Instead, Cary Academy reaffirms our longstanding commitment to the hard, at times uncomfortable, introspective work of diversity, equity, and inclusion that have been core CA values since we first opened our doors. 

  • We pledge to be part of the solution—to prepare our faculty, staff, and students to combat racism and make the positive changes we all want to see in the world.
  • We pledge to listen—to lean into discomfort to grow and learn, and to create a safe space for difficult conversations. 
  • We pledge to look hard within to ensure that every member of our community is empowered to participate fully in the CA experience—to be known, lend their voice, and be heard—and to feel safe and respected while doing so.

As with our COVID-19 response, this will be an ongoing, evolving effort—one that is taking shape now. 

To our families of color: your voices and experiences are valuable and crucial. Yet, we recognize the psychological and emotional toll it can take to share your experiences and concerns. If you are in a place to share them, we want to hear them. We are here for you. 

We look forward to inviting all our members into these conversations as we work together to combat racism and become a stronger community, together. 

Dr. Michael Ehrhardt  
Head of School                                                                 

Manju Karkare
Chair, Board of Directors

Written by Mandy Dailey, Director of Communications

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Dialogue Across Differences

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Finding connection through virtual dialogue

April 16, 2020

Cary Academy has long been committed to providing a holistic learning experience that puts student wellness front and center, one that addresses social and emotional health in addition to academics. That’s why, when the Center for Community Engagement began brainstorming themes for dialogues this year, it seemed like a no-brainer to use this powerful method to dive deeper into ongoing community conversations around social and emotional health.  

Why dialogue? I’ll let one of our student leaders, junior Clay Thornton explain: 

“Cary Academy is a tight knit community that relies on strong relationships between students, faculty, staff, administrators, and parents to effectively provide students with a safe, healthy learning environment. Without frequent and honest communication, these relationships can be strained, the effects of which can be felt throughout the entire community.  

Dialogues Across Differences provides a platform for everyone in the community to candidly share their opinions on topics that have are currently causing, or could potentially cause, disruption at Cary Academy. While the purpose of dialoguing is not to come to an agreement or formulate a plan of action, it allows every member of the community to voice their opinion and work to understand other points of view.  

Dialogues Across Differences provides a platform for everyone in the community to candidly share their opinions on topics that have are currently causing, or could potentially cause, disruption at Cary Academy. While the purpose of dialoguing is not to come to an agreement or formulate a plan of action, it allows every member of the community to voice their opinion and work to understand other points of view.”

So, with faith in this powerful approach, earlier this year our student facilitators launched a series of dialogues that address one aspect of emotional health– stress and anxiety—from a variety of different perspectives and dimensions.  

Little did we know just how timely it would prove to be.  

We kicked off the series in February with a dialogue around the stress and anxiety of parenting. Parents gathered in the Discovery Studio to share their experiences, their worries, and their perspectives in what was a remarkably vulnerable and emotional experience.  

We were all touched, even overwhelmed, by how honest and authentic our parents were. We were excited to see parents who knew nothing about each other form bonds as they shared stories, advice, and support for one another. We were elated to see the connection that our parents made with our student leaders. And we swelled with pride to see how our students rose to the occasion as leaders.  

We left feeling heartened by the promise of dialogue, the strength of our community, and excited for the next session. 

And then the world changed. Suddenly, we had to figure out how to transition these conversations—these personal, intimate, vulnerable, face-to-face interactions—to a cold, impersonal, virtual world.  

Challenges abounded. We were worried about the technology. Would Zoom even work for this format?  Our student facilitators wondered if they were going to be able to make genuine connections. Would anyone be willing to be vulnerable in a virtual space?  

But, as is the CA way, we embraced the challenge as an opportunity for growth and innovation. Zooms were established. Technology was tested. And I’m proud to say, our student facilitators and our broader community embraced the opportunity.  

In fact, our first two online dialogues were even more powerful than our in-person session. Our current situation means that we are all yearning for an outside connection.  

After each dialogue I usually receive a few emails from participants thanking us for offering this space. I can often tell that most parents are surprised by how forthcoming they felt they could be in this setting, how much they get out of the experience.  

One of our student facilitators, junior Jordan Cuffee reflected on the impact she has seen on our parents who have participated in one of our three dialogues thus far: 

“After both the in-person and virtual dialogues, the parents voiced their appreciation for having a space like this to speak freely about their experiences at Cary Academy. From a facilitator perspective, the small groups, communication agreements, and confidentiality rule seemed to allow the parents to really lean into being vulnerable and open.  

They knew the information they shared would remain within the group and that they could share without judgment. Both the moms and dads could relate to each other in their experiences while being a CA parent. They spoke about their own stresses, the stresses of their family, and, more specifically, the stresses for their child.  

A majority of the parents I facilitated for spoke about their desire for their child to attend CA to prepare them for a successful future. Many mentioned wanting their students to get into good colleges, which caused families to fully stress academics.  

Most of the parents I facilitated for either have, or had, multiple children in CA. They realized their family dynamic changed from a focus fully on academics to one that understands their children’s needs to explore activities on their own, to have breaks, to be checked up on, and to know it’s okay to not be perfect at everything they do.”  

I cannot overemphasize the important lifelong skills that our student facilitators have gained through this process.Empathy, communication, active listening, the ability to hold respectful space for difference. These are skills that will carry our students to college and beyond. That will not only help them in the board room, but in every aspect of their lives.  

Junior Tommy Frank shares his thoughts on being a facilitator. 

“At the heart of facilitating dialogues is one invaluable skill that extends to all interpersonal interactions: the ability to build, to coordinate a space for people with varying backgrounds and situations to work toward one purpose, at least for one brief hour or two.  

This is what makes dialogue facilitation so paradoxically tiring yet rewarding. As each participant holds onto thoughts from outside of a dialogue, the facilitator must bring everyone into the conversation, must direct their minds inward toward that common space, through their questions, through their body language, and through their dialogue’s agreements.  

I have learned this ability most directly from my experience facilitating dialogues, and I believe it will be the most relevant in my life beyond Cary Academy.  

I often notice for myself and for close friends and family that the most rewarding social activities are the hardest to organize. But though they often begin with frustration and anxiety, they end with someone saying, “We should do this more often.”  

I anticipate that what I have learned through dialogues will help me assemble efficient, productive groups of people, whether the purpose is dialogue, school- or work-related collaboration, or simply enjoyment.” 

As the year winds down and we get ready to say goodbye to our senior facilitators, we will be offering additional students the opportunity to apply to be trained as dialogue facilitators. And we encourage students to consider joining in on what has been, by all accounts, a powerful and rewarding learning experience, and one that offers something invaluable back to our community.  

 Junior Vibhav Nandagiri shares his thoughts on being selected to be a student facilitator: 

“The process of facilitation has given me a new appreciation for the act of conversation. Prior to facilitating, I took conversations and disagreements at face value, often failing to address what was at the core of pressing issues.  

More students should look to facilitate simply because it can and will change your perspective on interpersonal communication.  

Another reason to facilitate is self-improvement. Through facilitation, I picked up several soft skills that I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. I learned how to avoid conflict, how to listen deeply, how to communicate nonverbally, and how to be emotionally locked into a given moment.  

The final reason more students should facilitate is that they get to be part of a process that is actively seeking to make positive change in our school community. The student facilitators, as a group, are driven, caring people who all want to see the CA community better off than it was a week, month, or year ago, which in itself is an incredibly powerful message.” 

 On behalf of our student facilitators and our entire Center for Community Engagement team, I invite you to join us for a dialogue the next time you see an invite in your mailbox.  

Our hope is that you discover these sessions as important opportunities to come together to share and learn from each other and to release some of the stress and anxiety that we are all currently experiencing. Ultimately, I think we will emerge as a stronger CA for it.  

 After all, as junior Sarah George points out: 

 “Although the dialogues have been quite successful so far, if more parents were to join, the overall caliber of these discussions would improve.  

When there are more participants, there is a greater chance for a range of experiences to be included, enriching the conversation and providing perspectives that may not have initially been present.  

Furthermore, first-time parents have the opportunity to learn from and relate to other parents they may not regularly interact with.  

These dialogues ultimately work to create discussions that will be for the benefit of the students.” 

Below you can find a tentative schedule for upcoming dialogues (more may be added in the near future). We hope that you can join us at one of them.  

 Student-only dialogues 

  • Student facilitators, Stress and Anxiety:  April 20 and 21, 10:00-11:30 a.m. 
  • Upper School Student Dialogue, Stress and Anxiety: April 27 and 28, 10:00-11:30 a.m. 
  • Middle School Student Dialogue, Navigating these Times: May 4 and 5, 10:00-11:30 a.m. 

Faculty/staff dialogue 

  • Teaching in this Moment: April 23 and 24, 8:00-9:30 a.m. 

 Parent dialogue 

  • Parenting Students of Color: April 25, 11:30 a.m. 

Alum dialogue 

  • Early Alum Dialogue, Navigating these Times: May 9, 11:30 a.m. 

Written by Danielle Johnson-Webb, Director of Equity and Community Engagement

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Community Conversations

Building an Inclusive Community

February 12, 2020

What is the key to understanding each other? What allows us to open ourselves to the diverse experience and perspectives of others? How can we create a community strengthened by our differences, rather than one divided by them? How can we engage in difficult conversations around important—and even polarizing—issues in ways that support, respect, and validate all our community members, their belief systems, and backgrounds?

As a learning community that places a high value on inclusivity and equity, these questions are of the utmost importance at Cary Academy. Now in its third year, the Dialogue Across Difference initiative aims to respond to them by providing a framework for community members to “meet in the middle” to respectfully and thoughtfully engage each other’s differences in a productive, validating, and community-building way.

“We are one of the most diverse independent schools in the Southeast. It doesn’t matter that we are all at Cary Academy, each one of us brings different things—perspectives, experiences, backgrounds—to the table,” offers Director of Equity and Community Engagement Danielle Johnson-Webb.

“It’s critical that all of our students, faculty, and staff, feel that their voices are heard loud and clear, so, at the end of the day, we can find common ground,” continues Johnson-Webb. “So that we can say ‘We may come from different backgrounds, have different perspectives, or different opinions, but we still care about the same things. We still share concerns. We still value and respect each other as community members despite our differences and can learn from each other because of them.’”

Dialogue across Difference launched at CA in 2017, after CA’s leadership identified a need to help facilitate challenging conversations on campus. After an exhaustive search, they ultimately chose the Reflective Structured Dialogue method employed by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based consulting firm, Essential Partners, having encountered the approach in use at the University of North Carolina.

Reflective Structured Dialogue relies on personal narratives to break down stereotypes and create a sense of common ground and shared humanity. Participants are encouraged to listen and reflect upon what they hear, rather than react. All of this happens within a guided, structured format that ensures everyone has the chance to speak and to be heard in an open, thoughtful environment.

The Power of Dialogue

“Vulnerability is the key,” explains Meirav Solomon ’21, who underwent intensive training to become a dialogue facilitator as part of an expansion of the Dialogue Across Difference initiative. “A lot of perspective-taking is based in vulnerability. It’s the key ingredient in a good structured dialogue. It’s crucial to the ‘meet me in the middle’ experience that dialogue is all about.”

And “meeting in the middle” is crucial. Johnson-Webb is quick to point out that the goal of dialogue is not about changing anyone’s mind. “It isn’t debate; it isn’t intended to be persuasive,” explains Johnson-Webb. “Dialogue doesn’t mean that you have to accept what someone else says as your truth; its intent is only to build a common understanding.”

That’s a distinction that isn’t lost on students. “When a debate occurs, you never feel like you get to hear a person’s full point of view,” explains Vibhav Nandagiri ’21, a newly-trained dialogue facilitator. “But, through dialogue, you get to learn someone else’s perspective without any competitive need to win an argument. It leads to mutual understanding; listening to each other helps us chip away at our differences.”

It is a process that Clay Thornton ’21 has found leads to a closer connection and the development of empathy. “It’s hard to argue with someone’s experience,” he explains. “Having an environment that gives you that space to listen to others talk about their experiences and understand how those experiences have led them to the opinions that they have—it is truly eye-opening.”

Importantly, dialogue isn’t just about listening; the act of storytelling is just as important to the process. “To form the connections and relationships, it’s all about storytelling in the beginning,” explains teacher and Upper School advisor Kimberly Shaw, an inaugural Essential Partners Fellow, who took part in intensive leadership training in Boston and has led dialogues on college campuses and amongst communities beyond the CA campus.

“As you enter a dialogue, you can either decide to lean into your vulnerability and share your story, or you can hang back; the more vulnerable you allow yourself to become, the more connected you feel with those around you,” Shaw explains. “My first dialogue was in a group of strangers from around the globe. After two days of sharing our stories, sharing pieces of ourselves, and listening to each other speak our truths—I’ve never felt such strong connections to people that I’ve only known for two days. That’s the power of dialogue.”

To create that safe space that allows participants to “lean into their vulnerability,” dialogue has strict guidelines, rules of engagement that are co-authored and agreed to by all participants at the outset. These guidelines might cover anything from respectful body language, to allowing space for silence, to prohibiting cross-talk and interruptions, to confidentiality and assurances that what is said in the dialogue space, stays in the dialogue space, or any other parameters that the participants feel need to be addressed.

For Becca Humphries ’21, the creation of that safe space made all the difference in her dialogue training experience. “The dialogue setting created an environment where people weren’t afraid to open up and share those things that they might not always share out loud. It made us feel closer and provided a stronger sense of trust. It allowed me to be vulnerable to people outside of my community and to be open to sharing.”

Dialogue on Campus

Dialogue Across Difference is considered so critical to CA’s core value of fostering a richly diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning community that it is a core commitment of the Center for Community Engagement. The newly formed Center, which coordinates cross-divisional work in experiential learning, service learning, entrepreneurship, and equity, offers students opportunities to stretch, grow, and co-author their learning through meaningful engagements both within and outside of the CA community.

During the first two years of Dialogue Across Difference, the program initiated dialogues amongst CA’s faculty and staff, Board of Directors, parent groups, and students. The first student dialogues were facilitated by faculty members, with later dialogues co-facilitated with student leaders who had participated in specialized training.

The success of those latter dialogues inspired Johnson-Webb, who envisions student leadership as an important strategy for building community both on campus and off. It is this vision that prompted the recent training of 17 new student facilitators in October; 17 more students will undergo training in the spring.

African american affinity and alliance group

Indeed, the shift from dialogue participant to facilitator was a powerful leadership experience for recent student trainee Jordan Cuffee ’21: “The dialogue training allowed me to push myself to speak up first. In an informal conversation, I’m not usually the first person to voice my opinion; I usually end up listening, rather than taking a stance on sharing my opinion. But the dialogue training empowered us to decide if we want to say something now or listen. It really made me feel part of the conversation, rather than being on the outside, observing.”

“Like all CA programming, we’re always evaluating and reflecting to consider what is working and what isn’t, how we can increase impact, how to better meet the needs of our community,” says Johnson-Webb. “Putting students in the drivers’ seats as trained facilitators in these dialogue sessions, allowing them to own the process and work alongside faculty to address community issues—it makes them more invested in the dialogues. Hopefully, that leads to meaningful experiences that benefit our whole community.”

“Student facilitators flip the script,” offers Shaw. “When students lead, you can see a change occur, a shift as they understand the difference between being a participant and being a facilitator, as they work to hear and address the needs of their classmates and community.”

That shift is already having an impact on the way students see their concerns being heard by faculty and staff. “It makes you respect [the faculty] even more when they talk to you as equals,” Nandagiri explains. “To harness that in dialogue allowed me to realize that they actually do want to meet us in the middle.”

“Even though I knew my opinion was valid, to know that everyone there—not only the students but the teachers too—wanted to hear what I had to say, it made me feel my experience mattered,” adds Cuffee.

In addition to increasing student facilitator training, Johnson-Webb is also altering the way dialogues are implemented school-wide by engaging Upper School students in the choice of topics they will take up during this
year’s dialogues.

Already, a committee of student leaders has suggested a slate of dialogue topics that will be put to a vote by the Upper School student body. Topics under consideration include the role of PE and athletics on student health at CA; the definition of privilege, how it is manifested at CA, and its impact on students’ futures; how to better foster a community that honors all political ideologies; social dynamics and cliques; and stress and academic pressure.
It’s an innovative and forward-thinking approach to fostering inclusivity that sets CA apart. “The best thing a school can do is to call us before there’s a crisis—to live out the fullness of its diversity, to strengthen community resilience, or to transform its institutional culture,” offers Essential Partners Co-Director John Sarrouf. “Cary Academy’s vision and ambition are groundbreaking, and they are inspiring other schools to develop robust cultures of dialogue as well.”

Written by Dan Smith, Digital Content Producer and Social Media Manager

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Starting-up Startups

September 26, 2019

I arrived in our nation’s capital after a sleepy five-hour bus ride with the junior class. As I stepped off the bus on to The George Washington University’s campus, I looked around at the many students, food trucks, and scooters. The energy palpable, I was struck by GW’s intimate campus environment despite its location in the heart of a big city. 

Starting our tour, we crowded around the front of a diminutive sculpture of a hippopotamus, it’s mouth agape. The tour guide had just launched into an animated explanation of the origins of this famous (and altogether unexpected) unofficial GW mascot, when a professor approached and asked if he could interrupt.   

“I am the Director of Entrepreneurship for the university,” he announced with the tour guide’s assent. “We are lucky enough to be able to give $600,000 a year to our students to help them develop their own businesses.” And, just like that, he walked away.  

Jaw-dropping figure aside (wow!), I was struck by his enthusiasm. And, I get it. Few things are exciting as empowering students to pursue their passions, as having the opportunity to mentor and guide their process and experience the fulfillment of watching what was once a mere hint of an idea—as it is coaxed through prototype after iterative prototype—develop into reality.  

In short, I was happy to discover a connection, an institution kindred in CA’s spirit.   

This year, the Center for Community Engagement is launching our own entrepreneurship initiative. A natural outgrowth of our commitment to innovation, entrepreneurial programming at CA will offer students outlets to explore their entrepreneurial interests, both in and out of the classroom; to take risks in a safe and supportive environment; to pursue their ingenuity and creativity; and to stretch themselves to learn and grow. 

In the classroom, T2 will see the launch of CA’s first dedicated entrepreneurship class that will teach students how to get an original idea into the marketplace. Leveraging design process and design thinking and a variety of resources, tools and materials, student will explore the challenges and opportunities of product development and its potential for success in the marketplace. They will have opportunities to prototype a product or service to test its viability for development, while learning the ins and outs of marketing, branding, financing, and implementing a business plan.  

At the beginning of the year we also introduced a new StartUp Challenge Entrepreneurship Club in the Upper School. Participation in the club offers students the opportunity to participate in various nationwide entrepreneurial challenges, including the Conrad Challenge. 

An annual, multiphase student-driven innovation and entrepreneurship competition, the Conrad Challenge tasks students with identifying relevant real-world issues. Then, guided by teachers and industry experts, students work together to bring to life commercially-viable innovations that have the potential for positive global impact. 

As we look to prepare our students for the future, one thing is certain: the careers of tomorrow may be altogether unknown to us today. However, the types of skills developed through these entrepreneurial programming—business acumen, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication, design thinking developed—will undoubtedly be critical and serve our students well far into the future.  

Just as The George Washington University does, we are breaking new ground to celebrate the ‘outside of the box’ teaching and learning, and for what that contributes to our community and our future, I am proud. And, while we won’t be able to offer that jaw-dropping GW-level funding, we do expect the program to pay richly in learning dividends.  

 

Written by Danielle Johnson-Webb, Director of Equity and Community

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