ALUMNI PROFILES BY DECADE
2010s
A Quest for Empathy
on a Path Less Traveled
C
uriosity is creating a unique path for Kimberly Villard ’20. Compelled by cultures and people who make them, she is parsing the intricacies of empathy in a quest to create a world where human connection, meaningful change, and social progress intersect for the greater good. Her research began in Upper School when Villard, who entered King School in Grade 7, followed by two siblings, created an independent study exploring language, substance abuse, and violence during the rise of hip-hop. “Hip-hop is the most popular genre globally, and I wondered what that popularity said about the age we are living in and about Gen Z,” she said. She also played a leadership role in the Milestones Club, King’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Club at the time. The meetings offered a safe space to discuss cultural shifts and topical events in art, athletics, and politics.
lot of people who were passionate about the same things that I was interested in,” Villard said. She joined in several workshops, each with a different focus exploring how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics intersect. This created an identity dynamic that was new to Villard. “You may be Black, but you’re also a woman, and maybe you’re disabled,” she said. “How these things interplay is so interesting, and I had not really thought about that before.” Villard was struck by the power of listening and its potential to lead to deeper understanding. She took this knowledge when she left King for the University of Southern California (USC), where she planned to follow a pre-law track to a career in social justice. Soon after arriving in California, she had second thoughts. “I began to think of that work as more
reactive than proactive,” she said. “I struggled with the notion of achieving true justice for those who had been wronged because if true justice exists, then injustice could never occur in the first place.” At USC, she served as a tour guide, which deepened her appreciation for the higher education environment. She also loved the cultural and socioeconomic diversity of the people she was meeting. “I loved connecting with students and their families,” she said. “I enjoyed highlighting the importance of how a college degree can be life-changing for some folks, especially first-generation college students or those who come from low-income situations.” These interactions nurtured her desire to explore empathetic dispositions through academic research. Though USC did not have an exact fit for her desired course of study, the school was interested in
“I am using what we know about evolutionary biology and the brain’s anatomy to learn how we shape the minds of young people to be more caring and empathetic.” —Kimberly Villard These experiences laid the foundation for the most resonant experience of Villard’s upper school career: the National Student Diversity Leadership Conference, which King attends annually. As a student, she attended conferences in Anaheim, California, and Nashville, Tennessee. “The conferences were some of the first times that I was in an environment with a 58 Quest 2023-24
Kimberly Villard speaking at a 2019 Young Woman of Color Conference at Miss Porter’s School.
