Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion by Michael Buensuceso, Director of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
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he end of the 2020 school year marked the conclusion of our first strategic plan for Cultural Competency. As we move forward, we do so reflective of the accomplishments to date, sensitive to the ever-evolving world, and eager to build on the foundation that has been firmly set. Since its creation in 2015, we have intentionally adhered to the ideals outlined in our Statement of Community:
BERWICK ACADEMY affirms its commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming community that celebrates the unique qualities of every individual while encouraging active engagement in a diverse world. We strive to support and attract students, faculty, staff, and administrators whose varied backgrounds, including race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, family composition, physical difference, and socioeconomic status, strengthen our community. Through our curriculum, extracurricular activities, and community-building efforts, we prepare students to become leaders who challenge preconceptions, value difference, and catalyze divergent ideas to realize Berwick’s mission of “promoting virtue and useful knowledge.”
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etween 2015 and 2020, we have established committees at the board level, in each of the divisions, with alumni, and within the Berwick Parent Community. Their foci include supporting cultural competency efforts at the policy level, within curricular and co-curricular activities, and amongst the parent and alumni community. Annually, the school provides for faculty and staff internal professional development opportunities, focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the year, and students, faculty, and staff attend local and national conferences. We have established partnerships with national agencies that specialize in supporting prospective faculty and staff of color to help build hiring candidate pools that are racially and culturally diverse. An intentional effort in the admission office has allowed us to increase our percentage of students of color from 10% to 16% of our total population. Finally, more than 40% of our students receive some form of financial aid – the Hilltop has never been this racially and socioeconomically diverse. Yet, there is a prevailing view that the term “cultural competency” does not fully describe the efforts to date and is incomplete without recognition of the systemic inequality and social injustice that exists and its impact on underrepresented and marginalized communities – especially coming off a year when the names George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Jacob Blake were added to the ever-growing list of Black Americans who lost their lives to law enforcement. We actively wonder if this is the watershed moment that briefly emerged during the aftermath of our nation becoming all too familiar with the stories of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, and Eric Garner, and how we need to continue to prepare our young people with intention.
Poster as part of public art project throughout campus 10 | WINTER 2021
As we look to the future, we are reframing this work under the umbrella Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI). These
