“MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES”

Jenny Ladd ’67 jladd@igc.org

Continued from Page 14: She started with Global Education which moved to Multicultural Education then she noticed that the power dynamics were missing so began focusing on anti-bias, anti-racism education. In addition to and intertwined with race, Jenny notes, “Classism affects our society and our democracy significantly. Talking about money and class is vital to creating substantive social change.”

With a UMass colleague, Felice Yeskel, who came from a workingclass family, Jenny started a cross-class dialogue group that met monthly for six years. Along the way, the group began leading workshops designed to help other people break the taboo on talking about money and class, and to see such discussions as a liberating experience.

Jenny describes the group as, “open, honest, and probing areas of shame with the aim of social change.” These workshops became the non-profit Class Action, cofounded by Jenny and Felice in 2004.

Today, Class Action employs thirteen trainers, supports crossclass dialogue groups, leads specialized workshops and retreats, provides resources for nonprofits grappling with equity issues within their own workforces, and hosts a summit to support first-generation college students. Ladd shares, “The more money and class is out there and talked about, the more there can be creative strategies that bring out the most in everybody. Each individual is an immense resource with so much possibility.”

Bridging divides was Ladd’s focus even before her Ph.D. work. In 1984, Ladd began leading trips of American college students to India for the School for International Training, based in Brattleboro, VT. These trips became the topic of Jenny’s Master’sThesis at Pacific Oaks College, later published as a book titled, Subject India.

After earning her Ph.D. from UMass, Ladd taught Intercultural Communication at Lesley College and at the School for International Training, along with other courses at the University of Massachusetts and Springfield College. Ladd attributes Shady Hill’s method of studying one subject for a full year to a lifelong appreciation of the depth of a subject that is apparent in her work.

Currently, Ladd is focusing her energy on building resilient communities with strong cross-class relationships in Western Massachusetts. She serves on numerous boards including Communities Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, a organization that supports farmers and farmers markets, and The Wellspring Cooperative, an umbrella organization of worker collaboratives and mutual aid networks. In all that Jenny does, she brings an appreciation for multiple perspectives, and a lens focused on equity.

Douglas Sun ’76 dsun001@yahoo.com

Continued from Page 14: “Diplomacy is all about trying to win allies and adversaries over to your side,” Douglas explains. “This requires understanding all points of view. You’ll never move an issue forward if you don’t understand all the parties’ needs and interests.”

“For instance, during my time in Chad [2016-2017], elephant conservation was an Embassy N’Djamena priority – shared, I should add, by many Chadian citizens, the Chadian government itself, and various NGOs. The challenge was that over half the elephants in Chad are wild, living not in protected national parks but all over, which meant there was a lot of poaching and what they called ‘HEC,’ or ‘Human-Elephant Conflict,’ like trampling crops. By seeking out all the interested parties and listening well to their points of view, we were able to partner with a major Chadian University project to put electronic collars on the elephants. This meant their locations could bemonitored remotely, which helped protect them. Listening well to all groups involved was key to finding this solution.”

Douglas says Shady Hill influenced his start in the Foreign Service. “One of my favorite Central Subjects was Africa in Grade VI. That was 1972, and ever since then, I’ve wanted to live in Africa. When I was applying to the Foreign Service, I saw The Gambia listed as a posting option, and immediately prioritized it.”

Doug also feels Shady Hill’s immersive “learning by doing” approach equipped him particularly well for his chosen career.

“Each time I get to a new posting, it’s like starting a new Central Subject. I need to investigate things deeply, jump in and try to figure things out; no one is spoon-feeding you the information. It’s really a lot like Shady Hill!”

Jonathan B. Field ’84 jbfield@clemson.edu

Continued from Page 15: In the book, Jonathan explores how the American institution of Town Meetings has devolved from a forum for true communal decision-making to mere political theater where fully formed decisions, often unpalatable, are conveyed. Jonathan explains, “People are no longer real participants in these meetings. While citizens may sometimes be offered the opportunity to say their piece, there will most likely be no change in direction as a result.”

Furthermore, Jonathan asserts, Zoom has taken this a step further, through one-directional webinarstyle meetings where the public can see no one but the speaker; there is no interaction among and between attendees.

Jonathan wrote out of his concerns for the loss of the democratic process in government. “You’re afforded little or no opportunity to influence decision-making or outcomes. Rather the process serves to contain and silence dissent.”

You might expect to hear that Jonathan is a political science professor; in fact, he teaches English Literature, passionately asserting the value of English courses in sharpening his students’ critical thinking skills. In an essay in the Boston Review – a political and literary forum where

Jonathan is a frequent contributor – he points out that a liberal arts education helps produce mature, well-informed citizens who can spot and unravel spurious rhetoric when they encounter it.

On the website Rate My Professors, Jonathan is described as “one of the best professors to take if you want to expand your worldview. He’s very good at pointing out sides of arguments that I’ve never thought of before, and it helped me think more critically and in a more openminded way. He focuses on social issues because they’re important and should be talked about. Read that last sentence again.”

Jonathan attributes his Shady Hill education with his ability to view the world through different perspectives, to question authority and to think critically.

Zhanu Bowden ’93 zhanu.bowden@gmail.com

Continued from Page 15: 16 Lyrics got its start in 2020, during the height of the pandemic and national social unrest resulting from unfathomable police brutality. Zhanu and a group of his college friends “used our friendship to provide support for each other during a very difficult time. Our weekly Zoom calls quickly became a place where we could vent and discuss the unprecedented challenges of our times. It came to a peak with the murders of George Floyd, Brionna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. We were engaged in a deeper way, a more human way, than we had ever been in our 20-plus year friendship.”

As social unrest continued that summer, the close-knit group of friends realized that despite all they shared, there were significant differences in their life experiences and their perspectives, due to differences in their skin color.

“We were talking weekly, and we realized we had a lot of energy around what we could actually do to help others have the kind of conversations we were having. We wanted to effect change and move the antiracism conversation forward. We wanted to be part of the solution.”

The group founded a nonprofit, 16 Lyrics, choosing the name to represent the 16 friends who collectively decided on 16 words to represent themselves and the mission. Their first project, Representation Matters, comes from the conviction that adolescents exposed to a wide range of reading materials cultivate better critical thinking skills and will become adults equipped to have meaningful antiracist values and conversations no matter which professional sector they land in. Zhanu says, “Adolescence is a critical time for students forming their self-identity. Reading multicultural and anti-racist texts as young adults promotes empathy and cultural understanding, which can really move the conversation forward among their peers.”

16 Lyrics partners with schools across the country to fill shelves and backpacks with fiction and non-fiction books that will help kids understand and fight systemic racism. They curate books that feature authors and characters from diverse backgrounds.

“As more and more anti-racist literature is being removed from various school districts across the country, 16 Lyrics will continue to provide books to schools and organizations to help foster these critically important conversations.” Looking ahead, Zhanu says his organization plans to address other issues like the social inequities in healthcare. “There is so much work to be done, it’s important that we try and move the needle in any way we can. In the future we are looking at how we can approach health equity and make a difference in that space.”

Continued from Page 15: He saw there was an opportunity to bring better job opportunities into reach for the millions of people without college degrees. New jobs requiring college degrees accounted for 75% of job listings, while only 40% of potential job applicants have a college degree. There was also an opportunity to help employers struggling to fill roles in highgrowth sectors.

Fernando launched AdeptID in 2020 together with data scientist Brian DeAngelis. Making accessibility and inclusivity a main principle, AdeptID’s model recognizes talent in all places through skill-based matching, “looking beyond the title to see the underlying skills the person has developed” – an excellent example of Shady Hill’s directive to bring multiple perspectives to bear on a situation.

While most resume-screening software looks for exact matches on keywords, AdeptID’s model is more nuanced, mining real employment data to determine which skills are associated with success in the open position, and scanning more broadly for evidence of those skills.

Fernando launched AdeptID in 2020 together with data scientist Brian DeAngelis. Making accessibility and inclusivity a main principle, AdeptID’s model recognizes talent in all places through skill-based matching, “looking beyond the title to see the underlying skills the person has developed” – an excellent example of Shady Hill’s directive to bring multiple perspectives to bear on a situation.

While most resume-screening software looks for exact matches on keywords, AdeptID’s model is more nuanced, mining real employment data to determine which skills are associated with success in the open position, and scanning more broadly for evidence of those skills.

One of AdeptID’s first partnerships was with Boston Medical Center (BMC), which was struggling to fill pharmacy technician roles. AdeptID’s software was able to identify individuals with cashier backgrounds, predicting that their skills in customer service and experience in fast-paced environments equipped them for success as a pharmacy tech. BMC now has the analytics to identify promising applicants based on skills rather than degrees.

AdeptID also partners with other mission-aligned organizations such as YearUp, Grads of Life, and Enel Green Power. Fernando is proud of AdeptID’s growth and its impact on job mobility.

Sterling Hoyte ’18 shoyte@college.harvard.edu

Continued from Page 15: Sterling decided to tell the story of abolitionism from a black perspective, a topic that he felt was largely overlooked. Sterling says, “I learned about the American abolition movement from a distinctly white perspective. Teachers relayed the words of Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, and Henry David Thoreau, but times when I learned about African Americans’ contributions to the anti-slavery movement were few and far between.”

Sterling used the Historical Society’s archives as primary sources for his project, which he says opened his eyes to abolitionist literature he would never have discovered otherwise. He showcased his research through a website that was used as an educational tool, embracing Shady Hill’s mission to imbue learning with multiple perspectives.

Sterling’s historical research work continued on in the summer of 2022 when he interned for MHS. He conducted research to create a primary source set that would provide a framework for middle and high school students to learn about abolitionist literature through primary sources. Now a first-year Harvard student, Sterling plans to continue his work in history and writing, with a focus on uncovering overlooked perspectives and shedding light on marginalized voices in history.

Jennat Jounaidi ’20 jjounaidi1234@gmail.com

Continued from Page 15: Jennat says, “Kendall Square is thriving but just two blocks away, the city’s public school students are not benefiting from the innovation, talent and money so close by.”

Kendall Square is the home of the most innovative square mile on the planet, the Cambridge Public School District spends the second most dollars per student in the state, and it is also true that Cambridge’s poverty rate (12.4%) is higher than the state average (10%), 30% of graduates do not obtain a secondary degree and only 5% of Cambrdige’s Black workforce is employed in the tech industry in any role.

Propelled by the Innovators for Purpose’s, “2 Block” program, Jennat and her partner asked, “How hard is it to bridge a twoblock gap?” If business owners, the school department and the mayor’s office come together in partnership, can the technology and bioscience industries that dominate Cambridge come into meaningful partnership with the city’s public school students, in ways that ultimately create benefits for all involved?

“We interview various stakeholders attempting to bring more transparency and meaningful partnerships between CPSD, Cambridge City Government and the Businesses Bureau. Too often, ‘corporate responsibility’ results in nothing but performative check-boxes and quotas. We need meaningful opportunities for students: industry exposure, career awareness, jobs for teens, mentoring. We students need to be at the table. We can hold people accountable.”

Now in its second year, the podcast has interviewed business leaders, City Council members, the Mayor, the school superintendent and others. While change takes time, Jennat has noticed that already the ideas students have put forward have been repeated in school board discussions and on city council agendas, and even written into the district’s goals.

“We have lots more to do but it’s nice to see that because we have a seat at the table, things are moving forward.”