Ian Cho ‘26
Photo from Community Day in the Class of ‘45 Hall
Community Day, formerly known as C&E Day, is an opportunity for members of the St. Mark’s community to gather and engage in workshops in order to foster understanding, empathy, and respect for our school’s diversity. The event is a crucial step to ensure an inclusive and equitable school culture. This year, the community gathered in the Class of ‘45 on September 14th with Jason Craige Harris, a researcher, educator, and strategist in community and equity. With his captivating eloquence and profound understanding of fostering learning environments, Harris inspired discussions between students and faculty on “How to Talk Across Differences.”
Harris touched upon a variety of factors contributing to a successful dialogue across differences. He highlighted the importance of empathy: understanding and acknowledging what someone else may be going through. Harris revealed that people often make premature judgments about others without considering their perspectives. He also commented on recognizing the intent vs. impact of our words and actions, even when saying seemingly harmless jokes. After Harris’s initial keynote presentation, the students split up into their respective advisory groups to discuss questions relating to how the topics discussed in his talk can apply to the St. Mark’s community:
What can be challenging about dialogue? And how have you worked through those challenges?
In response to the first question, Ava Braccio ‘27, stated, “Being vulnerable can be hard when two people aren’t that close.” Nevertheless, she recommended that something as simple as “initiating conversations by saying ‘hi’ in the hallways” can overcome such challenges.
Vaughn Kim, ‘27, explained that dialogue can be difficult when you “don’t have a lot of commonalities with the other party”. However, he believed everyone could work through these challenges by “asking others about their days,” allowing people to have “deeper conversations across differences in the future.”
Where do we already have spaces for dialogue?
Elijah Abraham ‘26 highlighted the various affinity group meetings hosted throughout the school year as an exemplary space for conversations. In particular, he enjoyed the collaboration between the GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance) and CFG (Christian Fellowship Group), where students discussed common misconceptions about the relationship between Christianity and the LGBTQ+ community.
Why is dialogue integral to a healthy society?
Chloe Kim ‘26 explained that understanding is integral to a healthy society because “we want to make sure that everyone in our community feels respected and can thrive… Dialogue is a great way to communicate those needs.”
Overall, St. Mark’s is a diverse community with students from various cultural backgrounds; the 377 students from this school come from sixteen different countries meaning that everyone can have different experiences, interests, and perspectives. Thus, Community Day with Jason Craige Harris marked an incredible start to the year by encouraging students and faculty to foster a community built on empathy, equitability, and inclusivity, by understanding and talking across our differences.