On Friday, November 16, MICDS hosted the 2018 Upper School Diversity Leadership Conference. The conference brought together over 150 students and faculty from nine different schools: Bishop DuBourg, Chaminade, Ladue, Lutheran North, Thomas Jefferson, Villa Duchesne, Westminster, Whitfield and MICDS. The event was orchestrated by 14 of our iDentity Club Upper School students and co-heads Shreya Mehta ’20 and Kenny Townsend ’19. Erica Moore, MICDS Director of Faculty Equity and Inclusion and Director of Student Activities, also oversaw the students as they organized the conference.
This year’s theme was “Empowering Voices for Advocacy and Action”. The day was filled with small and large group activities, workshops and a keynote speech by Tony Thompson, award-winning author, motivational speaker and entrepreneur. There was even an open mic portion to conclude the conference where students shared how the conference impacted and inspired them.
Just a few of the many topics discussed were:
- Current Events
- What is Effective Protest?
- Intersectionality: One Person, Many Voices
After helping facilitate this conference for four years, senior Bryce Berry ’19 shared this call to action: “Our community needs you, our nation needs you, our world needs you. Take what you learned today, act and work for something greater. We are no longer empowering voices; we are empowered voices.” In closing, Berry asked his peers to continue applying the lessons learned at this conference. “Let’s make the change that our world so desperately needs.”