Listening to Student Voices at Day of Dialogue

Beginning in March 2017, High School administrators organized and ran a day-long retreat for students, faculty and staff called “Day of Dialogue.” Day of Dialogue is a full day of interactive experiences designed to create a safe sharing and listening space within which students, faculty and staff can learn more about our own and others’ perceptions of diversity. We raise and explore challenging questions about race, class and gender. We all have learned more about our individual and group identities, uncovered “unspeakables” about diversity at Shenendehowa, learned about implicit bias and how it affects interaction between individuals; and made recommendations for “next steps” to address issues at the high school. To date, we have held seven Day of Dialogue events with over 290 students and over 85 faculty and staff attending. As the HS Partnership Team's podcast illustrates, this work is ongoing at the high school and has been meaningful to staff and students.

In December 2020 and March 2021, we conducted Day of Dialogue in a virtual format. Here’s what some of our recent participants said about the experience.