by Arman Kassam, ’18
It’s always a bit funny when you investigate CA’s history. A quick Google search uncovers what the very first OneWeek was all about:
“The 2009 – 10 academic year marked the beginning of an upper school tradition called “One CA Week.” Upper school affinity groups, through a consortium called COEXIST, planned a week’s activities affirming our community values of respect, integrity and compassion. The week’s events also included opportunities to learn more about affinity groups at CA.”
As much as we affirm our core values, we also expand upon them, dig deeper, and draw out what it means to be part of the CA community. Fortunately, we’ve been doing this all year, from the Easter Egg hunt put on by the Catholic Affinity group to Holi from the Indian Subcontinent Affinity group. This year featured the formation of the West Asian Affinity group, the reformation of the Jewish Affinity group, and the creation of a second AAAG! The Asian-American Affinity group has had a fantastic debut and will only dig deeper in the following years. We also can’t forget the Gender and Sexuality Alliance’s Day of Silence or the African American Affinity group’s history bowl or the “Equal Means Equal” dinner and documentary from Students for Gender Equality. Not to mention efforts from the Christian Fellowship Organization, the Multicultural Affinity group, the Hispanic Latino Affinity group, the Atheist-Agnostic Alliance – in short, there’s a lot going on. Listing these groups and naming a few of their events won’t do them justice. We are lucky to have dedicated leaders, valuable community traditions, and a vibrant array of voices. OneWeek complements this busy year by accentuating these voices and raising much-needed dialogue:
This year’s OneWeek began with a workshop from the students of the Student Diversity Leadership Conference trip. Their innovative board game simulated socioeconomic privilege, challenging players to make tough decisions when reality hit. The following day held our main event for the week, and this time we invited seven religious/moral leaders from around the Triangle to discuss interfaith interaction. Our representatives from the Beth Meyer Synagogue, Rabbis Jennifer and Eric Solomon, also happened to be this year’s recipients of the Courage Award – an award given to those in North Carolina who have made a sizeable impact in progressing equity and diversity. The Solomons are more than deserving of this award as passionate advocates for inclusion and social justice in the realm of faith, and beyond. We also had the privilege of keeping Rabbi Eric Solomon around, in addition to members of Buddhist and Atheist organizations, for a lunchtime discussion where we extended our conversations about interfaith dependency and religion in the modern era. Although that Tuesday was the highlight of the week, our celebrations and dialogue continued in a sex and gender terminology workshop by Jae, a thought-provoking discussion about feminism led by Lily Levin and Maddie Mizelle, and an information session about the Day of Silence facilitated by the GSA. Like previous iterations of OneWeek, we held a film festival, this time diving into the nuances of cyclical sexism, race “beyond the color line,” and (dis)ability from a fresh perspective. One of my favorite parts of every OneWeek is the multicultural bake sale; we raised more than $100 for the Interfaith Food Shuttle this year! The bake sale truly shines as one of the few occasions where members of our community can connect over the one thing that truly holds us all together – food. Thank you to everyone who donated delicious cultural goodies!
This year’s OneWeek could not have happened without the diligence of CoExist, the input and leadership of our affinity groups, and the opinions that every student brought to the table. For me, the best part about each year’s OneWeek is that it is different from the last. Our Diversity program, like our vibrant community, is dynamic. It shifts and adapts to the globe, to our state, and to our school. I am confident that next year’s program will be quite different as we make the necessary changes to match the concerns, questions, and conversations of the next school year. However, the driving force of these discussions, the catalyst of these events, the engine of metamorphosis isn’t behind closed doors at the next CoExist meeting – it is in you. Diversity isn’t just a box to check or a token to keep. It is a machine to work upon, a tool to refine, a platform to utilize. We have the privilege of learning in such a diverse community; it is in our best interest to advance conversations about our identities – whether it’s race or ability, gender or family structure – because many other environments don’t offer that privilege. We are living in an era of polarization, but also in an era of exciting evolution in the way we view each other, from the way we look at the color of our skin to the way we protect refugees to the way our school is designed for accessibility. The impetus is present, so join CoExist, sign up for an affinity group, or even start your own organization.
As I head towards my Senior year, I’ve begun asking myself questions that have burned inside me throughout Junior year: what have we done to preserve an accepting community? Are we having the right conversations? What can we do to make political discussion safe? What can we do to talk more about immigration, or our evolving perception of gender, or the intersection between disability and technology? Have we given voices to the voiceless? (Thanks Dr. Sencer)
I don’t have the answers, but you might. So join the conversation, fire up the engine of change, and don’t be afraid to ask yourself the bigger questions:
Who are you? And what do you want? – Uncle Iroh