Discover a New Department: DEIB

Melissa joined Sturgis as a Spanish teacher in 2018, but quickly became involved in many aspects of the school working as an Outreach Coordinator and supporting the Multilingual Learner Department with her multilingual skills. After teaching both internationally and in the US, Melissa says she has found her home at Sturgis. 

Knowing that the pursuit of equity can take time, we have been using this year as an opportunity to listen and understand the unique needs of Sturgis. We will be using some data along with our impressions from the year of listening and learning to contribute to a DEIB plan for 2023-24. Although this work can be daunting, one of the things that Melissa and I are always celebrating is that our faculty is committed to ensuring each student has a world-class educational experience in their classroom through high quality instruction and relationship building. We feel incredibly fortunate to be doing DEIB work in such a fabulous environment. 

In DEI work, there are a few layers. Although progress through these elements are not linear, it is helpful to think of them as “steps.” Diversity is the first step. Diversity means that there is a range of experiences reflected in our community. These experiences include (but are not limited to) differences in gender and gender expression, race, ethnicity, economic status, family structures, age, and disability status. Sturgis has been actively recruiting and including diverse students, faculty, staff, and Board members. Some efforts have been greatly successful, while others are in the development stage. In the DEIB office, we plan to support and strengthen the efforts to make our community rich with a variety of perspectives that will prepare our students for participation in college and beyond. 

The next step is inclusion. Once you have a diverse community of students and faculty, it is vital that everyone feels as though they are included as members of the global community of IB learners. An important aspect of inclusion is not just acclimating students to how to be IB learners, but also adjusting our practice to make it inclusive of different perspectives and cultures. 

Next, there is belonging. Do members of our community have a sense of belonging? Are there any barriers in the way to students, staff or faculty feeling a sense of belonging? After what feels like many years of disconnect during the pandemic, one of the main efforts from the DEIB Office this year has been to provide opportunities to foster a renewed sense of belonging.In the fall, we offered some ice breaker activities for faculty to get to know each other better and strengthen relationships. This gave teachers a chance to experience a sense of belonging and connection with each other that they can replicate in their classrooms. Melissa shared her experience of celebrating Rosh Hashanah as a child in Colombia and we arranged apple cakes (a traditional food for this celebration) for the faculty. We had a Fiesta Latina where faculty and families shared their experiences living, visiting and working in Spanish-speaking countries. In the Winter, we celebrated the World Cup with a watch party. The match was France v. England, and we had fans of both sides on a Saturday afternoon cheering their team on and eating wings and crêpes made by one of the faculty members. We are currently planning a Black History Movie Night with the Students of Color Coalition, so stay tuned for more details! For faculty, we also led a professional development about implicit bias and how it can impact teacher-student relationships. 

All of these steps are leading to and in service of equity. This means that although we may not all have the same starting point, we recognize that there may need to be supports and accommodations so that we can all have access to the same academic content and co-curricular experiences that Sturgis offers. Equity is the basis of our IB for All mission. This mission is a strong underpinning for creating greater access to a global community of IB learners. Creating a more equitable, inclusive school is a continuous journey, and we are excited to see where it leads.