Embedded Files
2025
2025
Cooking Club: Cultures of Italy, Ukraine, Japan
Various Dates
Several different cultures have been celebrated at the monthly Cooking Club. Not only has the food been delicious but each time there has been a presentation by a member of the community who represents the culture. See pictures of some of these events in the Photos section. The picture above is of Easter symbols in Ukraine.
Cooking Club: Ramadan Iftar (Breaking of the Fast)
Cooking Club: Ramadan Iftar (Breaking of the Fast)
March 10, 2025
This month at the Library, the Cooking Club delved into the rich traditions of Ramadan, exploring its observances across different cultures and the significance of breaking the fast. There was a vibrant display of lanterns, dolls, and tapestries used in celebrations. Attendees shared a delicious assortment of homemade dishes, including traditional dates, creating a meaningful and festive experience for all.
Visit to a Sikh Temple
Visit to a Sikh Temple
March 9, 2025
Arm in Arm continued its series of learning about similarities and differences among religions. Community members joined Arm in Arm to visit a local Sikh Temple. We were greeted by student ambassadors who gave us a tour of the Temple, talked fluently about their religion's history, allowed us to watch their services and offered us a traditional meal.
Discussion with the Author about her book Defiant Dreams
Discussion with the Author about her book Defiant Dreams
January 10, 2025
Sola Mahfouz was born in Afghanistan and immigrated to the U.S. in 2016, to attend college. She is currently a quantum computing researcher at Tufts University Quantum Information Group. In her free time she is focusing on reading and studying different styles of fiction, as well as writing about the rugged homeland she has left behind.
2023/2024
2023/2024
Three Abrahamic Religions
Three Abrahamic Religions
June 6. 2024
Leaders of the three Abrahamic Religions returned to the Bromfield School to meet with 6th grade students. The focus was on the similarities of their religions and mutual respect for one another. It exemplified how the religions do not tolerate bullying and negative treatment of others, regardless of the others differences.
Visit to New England Shirdi Sai Baba
May 19, 2024
Arm in Arm returned for a visit to the Hindu Temple in Groton, having visited it back in 2019. It was hosted by the Temple's leaders who graciously gave of their time to teach about the many dimensions of Hinduism
Taste of World Cultures Special Event Celebrating the 3 Holidays of Passover, Easter and Ramadan
April 11, 2024
A special cooking club event, was held celebrating the foods of the three holidays that fell close together this spring.
A Taste of World Cultures
in collaboration with the Harvard Public Library
Monthly 2023-24
Each month, members of cookbook club checked out cookbooks about food from a particular region or country and brought a dish for a potluck dinner and discussion about the food and culture.
Abrahamic Religions Presentations
Grades 7 and 10
October 9, 2023
Representatives from the three Abrahamic Religions, Christian, Muslim and Jewish, met with students in the 7th and 10 grades. They shared artifacts from their religions and discussed the importance of Jerusalem in their history and religion.
Harvard Community Conference
March 2, 2024
This year’s student conference focused on stories and observations of climate change as seen through the eyes of local residents. The stories touched upon personal experience, thoughts, and reflections about climate change.
March 2, 2024
This year’s student conference focused on stories and observations of climate change as seen through the eyes of local residents. The stories touched upon personal experience, thoughts, and reflections about climate change.
Book Read
Discussion of the book with physician, Dr. Hugh Silk, a Harvard town resident caring for the homeless population in central Massachusetts.
Discussion of the book with physician, Dr. Hugh Silk, a Harvard town resident caring for the homeless population in central Massachusetts.
Welcome Bags
As a way to welcome new residents to the Harvard community, Arm in Arm is delivering Welcome Bags full of goodies and information about community organizations and activities. Over 25 organizations and businesses in town are contributing.
As a way to welcome new residents to the Harvard community, Arm in Arm is delivering Welcome Bags full of goodies and information about community organizations and activities. Over 25 organizations and businesses in town are contributing.
Harvard Community Conference
Harvard Community Conference
April 1, 2023
The Harvard Community Conference (HC2) is an annual event hosted by a student organizer who chooses a theme and a group of speakers to share their thoughts and experiences on the subject. The topic this year was HOPE. The goal of this event is to spark conversation on difficult but important topics through highlighting the perspectives of the speakers.2021/2022
2021/2022
Town Wide Book Read
Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle
November 17, 2022
A 1995 novel about assimilation, immigration and the price of the American dream. The story of two couples; one a pair of wealthy suburbanites and the other illegal immigrants from Mexico.
Ukrainian History and Culture
Ukrainian History and Culture
April 2022
A presentation "Ukraine - the land of freedom" by Dr. Roksolana Mykhaylyk, a Harvard resident, native Ukrainian and linguist.
World Cultures Month: Japan
Month of April, 2022
In collaboration wtih FiveSparks, 6 classes were offered to celebrate the culture of Japan.
- Sushi Making
- Origami
- Wet-Felted Sushi
- Maneki-Neko Cat in Clay
- Bonsai Workshop
- Calligraphy
The Lightless Sky by Gulwali Passerlay
March 24, 2022
The author joined the book discussion and spoke about current events in Afghanistan, his family and his life since he left Afghanistan at age 12. The book is about his year long escape from Afghanistan and his journey across the continent.
Harvard Community Conference (HC2)
February 5, 2022
Telling stories is a very engaging way to relay a theme or a life lesson. Our lessons these past two years have been how to protect our physical and mental health and how we personally address the blame we might have for what is happening around us. Forgiveness was the topic of this year's conference and speakers spoke about about themselves, friends, family, and society.
Trail Walk Quotes
Fall 2021
Arm in Arm welcomed residents to experience the joy of nature while learning how diverse peoples see their interrelationship with the natural environment. Quotes of diverse peoples were found thoughout the trail. The trail was on conservation land permanently protected by the Harvard Conservation Trust and in collaboration with the Sudbury Valley Trustees.
2020/2021
2020/2021
Town Wide Book Read
October 21
"A historian’s view of the country’s long road to Juneteenth, recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African-Americans have endured in the century since, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond."
Town Wide Book Read
April 15
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down changed how doctors see themselves and how they see their patients. Anne Fadiman celebrates the complexity and the individuality of the human interactions that make up the practice of medicine while simultaneously pointing out directions for change and breaking readers' hearts with the tragedies of cultural displacement, medical limitations, and futile good intentions.” ―Perri Klass, M.D., author of A Not Entirely Benign Procedure
April 15
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down changed how doctors see themselves and how they see their patients. Anne Fadiman celebrates the complexity and the individuality of the human interactions that make up the practice of medicine while simultaneously pointing out directions for change and breaking readers' hearts with the tragedies of cultural displacement, medical limitations, and futile good intentions.” ―Perri Klass, M.D., author of A Not Entirely Benign Procedure
A Journey into the Music of Mali
A Journey into the Music of Mali
March 26
In collaboration with the Warner Free Lecture, a cultural experience of the music of Mali. Zach Combs, Director of Crocodile River Music fell in love with the rich and diverse culture of West Africa while in Mali on a Watson Fellowship. Deeply inspired by his journey, Zach founded Crocodile River Music in 2011 in an effort to provide opportunities for both emerging and established artists from Africa.
Talking to Kids About Race and Racism
A Conversation with Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum
February 25 and March 4
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College, is a clinical psychologist widely known for both her expertise on race relations and as a thought leader in higher education.
Author Presentation
February 26, 2021
Co-sponsored with the Warner Free Lecture Trust and the Harvard Historical Society.
As part of Black History Month, the author, Larry Tye explores how the black men who worked on George Pullman’s railroad sleeping cars helped kick-start the Civil Rights movement and gave birth to today’s African-American middle class.
February 26, 2021
Co-sponsored with the Warner Free Lecture Trust and the Harvard Historical Society.
As part of Black History Month, the author, Larry Tye explores how the black men who worked on George Pullman’s railroad sleeping cars helped kick-start the Civil Rights movement and gave birth to today’s African-American middle class.
Town Wide Book Read
January 28, 2021
This book read offered a look into the world of Indigenous peoples and their beliefs, particularly their relationship to the land. Not only did it give insights to the Indigenous peoples history and beliefs, it attracted a few attendees who could add much to the conversation about this culture and what we all can do to protect the lands around us.
4th Annual HC2
Belonging
January 16, 2021
The fourth annual HC2 conference was led by Brooke Camroon, a Bromfield Senior. The topic this year was Belonging. Six local residents told their stories of how they found their way to feeling they belonged, not just fit in, through their identity, their friendships and their culture.
We are the Story, We are the Land. A Journey into Nipmuc Land
January 15, 2021Co-sponsored with the Warner Free Lecture Trust
Citizen of the Nipmuc Tribe, award winning writer, poet, cultural educator Larry Spotted Crow Mann spoke about the spiritual, cultural, and social significance of place and the art of story has had on the Indigenous Peoples of New England. The conversation followed the survival and perseverance of the Nipmuc People.
A Panel Discussion on Anti-Racism
December 17, 2020
Bromfield Students and Alumni discuss their initial letter to the Administration about their concerns regarding racism and diversity and the actions they are taking in working with Administration to make changes in school climate. The discussion also impacts the broader community.
Intersection of Religion and the Environment
October 8, 2020
A Rabbi, a Pastor and a Muslim Teacher discussed how religion frames the views of the environment. A learning opportunity and intresting interaction and perspective of these three religious leaders
Town Wide Book Read
September 24, 2020
Bryan Stevenson recounts his efforts to reverse glaring mistakes in criminal justice cases. A true story of Walter McMillian, whom Stevenson began representing in the late 1980s when he was on death row for killing a young white woman in Monroeville, Ala.
Town Wide Book Read
July 23, 2020
A virtual discussion of the recent important work, How to be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi, an American author, historian, and leading scholar of race and discriminatory policy in America.
Panel on Racial Injustice
Panel on Racial Injustice
June 18, 2020
Three Harvard residents and Harvard’s Chief of Police engaged in a thoughtful discussion about current events from their life experiences with and knowledge about racial injustice.
Link to video recording of the event coming soon.
Town Wide Read
Town Wide Read
April 16, 2020
Virtual discussion of Sarah Smarsh's Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth. This event is co-sponsored by the Harvard Family Association.
Harvard Community Conference (HC2) Giving Back
Harvard Community Conference (HC2) Giving Back
March 7, 2020
The 3rd Annual Conference sponsored by Arm in Arm and the Harvard Cultural Council led by Gwyneth Smedley, a Bromfield Senior. This year's topic was Giving Back. Seven Harvard residents related their experiences in giving back to community, family and country. The speakers all described their journeys of how they came to being volunteers along many different paths. Read more about the event at the link below.
A Deeper Look at Instant Decisions
A Deeper Look at Instant Decisions
February 9, 2020
Harvard's very own Chief of Police discussed the realities of bias and decision-making as a public safety officer. A packed room of Harvard residents listened as Chief Denmark shared his experiences with implicit bias as a cop and as a human being. Read more about the event and reflections of a Bromfield student at the link below.
2018/2019
2018/2019
Mosque Visit
November 3, 2019The Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland invited Arm in Arm and 20 Harvard residents to learn more about Islam and its virtues. Participants had the oppurtunity to observe a congregational Muslim prayer session, appreciate Islamic art, and engage in a deep discussion about Islam's global presence. Read more about the visit by clicking the links below.
The Hate U Give Town Wide Read
October 10, 2019This thought-provoking novel by Angie Thomas explores today's racial struggles through the lens of a teenaged person of color who is stuck between two very different worlds. You can simulate our town wide book discussion by clicking the link below and forming your own discussion group!
Synagogue Visit
September 10, 2019In early September, a group of 18 Harvard Residents joined Arm in Arm on a visit to the Congregation Beth Elohim in Acton. Together with Rabbi Mike Rothbaum, the visitors learned more about the Jewish religion and its many facets. Read more about the visit by clicking the link below.
Hindu Temple Visit
June 20, 2019This past summer, Arm in Arm organized an educational visit to the New England Shirdi Sai Baba, a Hindu Temple in Groton, MA. Neelkanth Mishra, one of the Temple's founders, hosted 25 Harvard Residents and informed them of the many dimensions of Hinduism. Read more about the visit by clicking the link below.
Bromfield Multicultural Dance
Bromfield Multicultural Dance
November 30, 2018
It was a night full of beautiful music, energetic dancing, and delicious food! With the help of Bromfield students, Arm in Arm hosted their first multicultural dance. The evening featured student-made dishes from around the globe and a diverse soundtrack of music. Children of all ages learned about dances originating in Greece, Israel, and India to name a few.
It was a night full of beautiful music, energetic dancing, and delicious food! With the help of Bromfield students, Arm in Arm hosted their first multicultural dance. The evening featured student-made dishes from around the globe and a diverse soundtrack of music. Children of all ages learned about dances originating in Greece, Israel, and India to name a few.
Harvard Community Conference (HC2)
Harvard Community Conference (HC2)
The 2nd Annual Conference sponsored by Arm in Arm and the Harvard Cultural Council led by Kira Houston, a Bromfield Senior. This year's topic was Change. Eight Harvard residents talked about their personal experience with change and its impact on not only their lives but at times locally and globally. Their personal stories shed light on the diversity of experiences of those living in town
Far Away Brothers Town Wide Read
March 14, 2019Truths about immigration and the American dream are dispelled in this story by Lauren Markham about two Salvadorian brothers who choose to leave their homeland in search of safety. You can simulate our town wide book discussion by clicking the link below and forming your own discussion group!
"Immigration Now - Are We Still a Nation of Immigrants?" - A Talk by Dr. Westy Egmont
February 12, 2019The first speaker in a series of Immigration Talks, Dr. Westy Egmont of Boston College explored the legal and humanitarian implications of immigration crises around the world. Arm in Arm and the Harvard League of Women Voters were proud to co-host this event. Read more about Dr. Egmont's Talk by clicking the link below.
"A Minister, a Zen Master, and a Hindu Pandit Walk Into A..." Religions Panel
October 25, 2018A continuation of Arm in Arm's previous Abrahamic Religions Panel, this event delved deep into the intricacies of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Unitarian Universalists. Together, a Hindu pandit, a Zen master, and a UU minister discussed the similarities and differences between their respective faiths. To learn more about Arm in Arm's second Religions Panel, click the link below.
The Inaugural Harvard Community Conference (HC2)
February 10, 2018The first Harvard Community Conference, sponsored by Arm in Arm, captured the group's mission. J Woolcock, a high school senior at the time, founded the event which involved eight community speakers on the subject of how one identifies oneself, exemplifying the varying backgrounds of Harvard residents . The event showcased the immense diversity within the small town of Harvard and has continued on as an annual conference. Read more about HC2 by clicking the link below.
2016/2017
2016/2017
"A Rabbi, a Priest, and an Imam Walk Into A..." Religions Panel
October 24, 2017The 2017 Religions Panel, one of Arm in Arm's most memorable events,, brought the similarities and differences between three Abrahamic creeds to center stage. The Panel was hosted by a Rabbi, a Priest, and a Muslim sister who engaged in captivating conversations about what it means to be a member of their respective faiths. The event hosted by Arm in Arm boasted a large audience of many ages and backgrounds. Read more about Arm in Arm's first Religions Panel by clicking the link below.
Educational Religions Panel at the Bromfield School
A continuation of "A Rabbi, a Priest, and an Imam Walk Into A..." the Educational Religions Panel at the Bromfield School provided 7th and 10th grade students with in invaluable learning experience. Students had the oppurtunity to hear from three religious leaders about their religions and the artifacts that identify them.
Book Talk: "The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap" by Gish Jen
May 5, 2017Professor, researcher, and author, Gish Jen spoke about the realities of being a Chinese-American in today's world at this event hosted by Arm in Arm. She explained the "types of self" that you will encounter throughout life while elaborating on the ways in which a community can foster all facets of one's identity. This Talk was inspired by Gish Jen's book: "The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap." Read more about Jen's talk by clicking the link below.
Book Talk: "The Making of a Racist" by Charles Dew
April 29, 2017Charles Dew, an accomplished professor, historian, and author, captivated his crowd at Arm in Arm's first Book Talk. Dew recounted his days as a Williams student and how he managed to escape racist tendencies while attending university alongside African-American peers.
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