Burke's Presents at NAIS People of Color Conference

Thirteen members of the faculty and staff and one member of the Board of Trustees attended the 2019 National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) People of Color Conference in Seattle from December 4-7. This year's theme was 1619. 2019. Before. Beyond. Amplifying Our Intelligence to Liberate, Co-Create, and Thrive. This event serves as a space for educators and administrators of color and allies  from independent schools to gather together and network, learn, and hear from voices such as civil rights advocate Valarie Kaur, best-selling author and futurist Mike Walsh, and internationally renowned researcher Dr. Joy Degruy. More than 7,000 educators and student leaders attended this year's conference. (Click here to learn more about it.)

 

Our faculty and staff in attendance were able to participate in a range of workshops to give them strategies for success in sustaining and building inclusive independent school communities. Quise Edwards, Director of Inclusivity and Community Building and Tammi Abad, Fourth Grade Teacher and Teaching Institute Coordinator presented on Extending Affinity Groups to Lower School Students. The workshop explored Burke’s established and thriving affinity groups in the upper school and the process around bringing affinity groups to the lower school students. Dr. Tone Rawlings, Fifth Grade Science teacher co-presented Decolonizing Hearts and Minds: Using Ancestral Healing and Ancient Wisdom to Transmute Wounds Into Power. The workshop focused on different healing modalities that people of color can tap into to upend conditioning and look to models of healing and transformation that connect back to ancestral and cultural norms within varied communities.

 

As in past years, the conference attendees brought back lots of inspiration, new ideas and reflections that were shared in a training with the entire Burke’s staff and faculty.