Equity Leadership Conference 2022
St. Luke’s is excited to offer students, faculty, parents, trustees, alumni, and parents of alumni the opportunity to participate in our second annual Equity Leadership Conference (ELC) from 9:00am-12:00pm on Saturday, April 9, 2022 (please find the tentative agenda below, along with a promotional video and registration information).
This virtual conference (via Zoom), in partnership with New York City-based nonprofit Pollyanna, will further support our school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion work as we continue to engage our community in thought-provoking conversations surrounding the issues of empathy, belonging, and perspective-taking at St. Luke’s.
Inspired by the School’s motto, Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve, and our Vision for Inclusive Excellence, this year’s theme is "Checking our Moral Compass: Empathy & Perspective-Taking at SLS”.
The ELC is designed to foster genuine curiosity, dialogue, empathy, and greater equity at St. Luke’s and beyond, and is being organized by the school's Equity and Inclusion team.
This virtual conference (via Zoom), in partnership with New York City-based nonprofit Pollyanna, will further support our school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion work as we continue to engage our community in thought-provoking conversations surrounding the issues of empathy, belonging, and perspective-taking at St. Luke’s.
Inspired by the School’s motto, Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve, and our Vision for Inclusive Excellence, this year’s theme is "Checking our Moral Compass: Empathy & Perspective-Taking at SLS”.
The ELC is designed to foster genuine curiosity, dialogue, empathy, and greater equity at St. Luke’s and beyond, and is being organized by the school's Equity and Inclusion team.
During the event, all participants will be together for opening remarks. They will then break into separate discussion groups for students, parents, faculty and staff, trustees, alumni, or parents of alumni where everyone will have the opportunity to share their perspectives on our theme. After a short break, the conclusion of the conference will invite all participants to join together to debrief and reflect on next steps.
Video description: In the run-up to our second annual ELC, St. Luke's students and faculty share thoughts about what it means to try and understand someone else's experience or feelings.
Agenda for St. Luke's Equity Leadership Conference
(all sessions are virtual via Zoom)
Registration - This event is open to the St. Luke's community, including students, parents, faculty, staff, trustees, alumni, and parents of alumni. The link to register was shared via email and can also be found in the latest edition of eNews. For questions about the event or if you need the registration link, please email Leo Mahler (mahlerl@stlukesct.org) or Jean Myles (mylesj@stlukesct.org).
9:00-9:15am - Opening Remarks
9:15-10:45am - Breakout Groups
Participants join constituent groups (students, parents, faculty, staff, trustees, alumni, parents of alumni) for a deep-dive conversation on building a shared language and practice of perspective-taking within our community and developing tools to help us enter productive and empathetic conversations around our identities.
10:45-11am - BREAK
11:00am-12:00pm - Student Panel & Closing
All participants will join together for a student-led panel discussion to share what we've learned in the morning's group dialogue, and to hear directly from students about their thoughts on empathy and perspective-taking at St. Luke's, including what the school is doing well and what can be improved. Head of School Mark Davis will close out the event with remarks and reflection.
Jacqueline Nelson, Director of Equity and Inclusion
As members of the St. Luke's School community we are encouraged by our mission to embrace a deep love of learning and a strong moral compass. To do this, we need to lead with curiosity in order to have more productive and insightful conversations across our differences of opinion, belief, and experiences. The ELC is design to be a communal learning experience that just might help us identify our shared purpose and moral compass."
About Pollyanna
The mission of Pollyanna is to create platforms "where groups of people can explore together diversity, inclusion, and equity and share ideas, experiences and knowledge in order to become change agents in their immediate communities. The “From Diversity to Community” or “Intra Conference” models are a dynamic, focused, and interactive program that provides guidance and training for community leaders. The goal is to improve inclusion within communities and the understanding that racial, socioeconomic, religious, and sexual diversity enhances all elements of the community."
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 35 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Center for Leadership builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
