Alumnae Step Up to Empower Student Leaders

Since The First Affirming Community Together (ACT) Conference, established by Country Day in 2012, Upper School student leaders and their peers from area schools have organized and hosted a one-day conference for Middle School students to learn more about diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). Because of the pandemic, the conference was put on hold for a few years, and Upper School leaders were unable to attend the national Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC), which is a springboard for their conference-planning preparation.

Fortunately, three alumnae stepped up to fill that void, working with 13 Upper School DEIB leaders to help them successfully bring back the ACT Conference this past spring. Jocelyn Purdie ’14 took part in planning the very first conference 11 years ago. She, along with Kendall Addison ’18 and Medine Sekeza ’18, met with students during lunch break in the weeks leading up to the conference to mentor them and impart their knowledge gleaned as facilitators.

“I loved attending SDLC; it shaped who I am,” says Jocelyn. “Working with today’s Upper Schoolers brought back those memories of my passion to be a game changer, a life changer, a teacher. Being part of the group that started it all, it just felt right to step up and help keep the legacy going.”

“I understand how impactful this work can be,” adds Kendall. “I wish I had the same access to past facilitators when I was in Upper School, so it was important for me to be the change I wanted to see.”

Medine acknowledges that her Country Day experience was deeply painful at times, often leaving her feeling invisible on campus. “Part of coming back to help was connecting again to that pain,” she explains. “Knowing that the vulnerability I experienced then is what some students are experiencing now…I can walk with them to transform challenging moments into opportunities to rally communal support and show up in loving, embracing ways.”

Since the first conference more than a decade ago, the dialogue around DEIB issues has evolved both nationally and at Country Day, so today’s students walk in with more knowledge about concepts like microaggression, implicit bias, and gender identity. “These topics felt a bit taboo at the first conference and now they are the big thing in the room,” shares Jocelyn. “It was nice to see that evolution. That said, these are still tough topics, and we’re still working as a community to build confidence in having the conversations.”

“The students who are part of the ACT Conference are dedicated, brilliant, and passionate,” says Medine. “I hope our community continues to create these spaces and remains willing to challenge ourselves to sit in discomforting conversations about complex realities.”

“The ACT Conference has helped me tremendously and will continue to help students in the future,” says Kendall. “I am so proud to have been a part of this amazing program that teaches high school students what it means to be a leader and educator while younger students receive mentorship.”

All three women say their experience as ACT leaders gave them the skills to be changemakers on their college campuses and the confidence to speak and live their truth. Kendall, a graduate of Howard University, assists in providing a safety net for the disadvantaged and uninsured through her work as an analyst for a pharmacy services company. Medine, a graduate of UNC-Greensboro, is attending Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health to pursue her master’s degree with a goal of researching a love ethic theory to support her vision of everyone having equitable access to life-enhancing resources. And Jocelyn, a graduate of Queens University of Charlotte, is committed to living out DEIB every day in her role as director of Enrichment and Summer Programs at Country Day.