The week after “Thanksgiving Break”, six students and some faculty members attended the Student Diversity Leadership conference, or SDLC, which was led by the National Association of Independent Schools, or NAIS. Pocc.nais.org describes the SDLC as “ a multiracial, multicultural gathering of upper school student leaders (grades 9-12) from across the U.S. and abroad. SDLC focuses on self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community. Led by a diverse team of trained adult and peer facilitators, participating students develop cross-cultural communication skills, design effective strategies for social justice practice through dialogue and the arts, and learn the foundations of allyship and networking principles. In addition to large group sessions, SDLC “family groups” and “home groups” allow for dialogue and sharing in smaller units.” The SDLC had its 25th anniversary in 2018. If it were a normal year, this conference would have been in DC, bringing students and faculty from Independent schools from all parts of the United States.
It was virtual this year, with each session either as a webinar or a Zoom. Despite this, each person finished feeling close, connected, and empowered by their peers. Throughout the week’s schedule, sessions varied between entirely full webinars, neighborhood groups, family groups, and affinity groups. This allowed plenty of interaction with both similar and very different people.
This year, we heard from key speakers Lyla June and Bettina Love. Lyla June talked about indigenous peoples. She encouraged everyone to learn about where they were, and to find out who lived there before the colonizers migrated peoples, and to honor them and the land, as well as acknowledge “oppression is a pre-existing tradition” and to “be kind, to let them metabolize this history”. On the final day, Bettina Love empowered and inspired attendees to actively fight against racism, particularly institutional racism. She provided a call to arms for bystanders and was the perfect closing session for the SDLC.
The attendees engaged in communicative skills and mindsets called ‘norms’ throughout the whole process of learning. The immersive practice of the SDLC set up the attendees for productive conversations and the confidence to continue engaging in these types of conversations outside the conference. Attendees brought these key tools back with them to share and implement into Newman’s community. These students and faculty members will be (and are) actively confronting Newman on ways to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion on our campus. They plan to build off of what last year’s attendees started presenting to the faculty over the last year. Undoubtedly, they will be making change for the better, soon.

Here is the NAIS summary of the event along with some resources:
https://www.nais.org/learn/independent-ideas/december-2020/new-decade-new-destinies-highlights-from-2020-pocc-and-sdlc/?utm_source=hps&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=mc&utm_content=di