Dear Parents,
In my first year at Westminster as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Community Engagement, I was fortunate to step into a community full of energy and expertise—especially in DEI. Westminster’s commitment to DEI spans decades, beginning with a few individuals who envisioned a more well-rounded and supportive community for all, including for students like me. When I was a Westminster student, this meant creating a safe and welcoming environment for everyone to feel seen, heard, and valued—and that mission remains.
In the summer of 2020, our school community strengthened its commitment to DEI through the launch of a strategic planning process, giving voice to all members of our community. We learned from the experiences of our students, parents, faculty, staff, and alumni, and are using what we learned to chart our path forward. Leaders from across the community spent time considering our identity as an institution and our students' daily experience. We further defined what it means to be an inclusive Christian school and the foundational role it plays in our ultimate aspiration of developing leaders of conscience.
In the stories below, we highlight the fruits of this work—both new initiatives as well as Westminster experiences that have stood the test of time. You will see how DEI shows up in the classroom, how we celebrate the vibrant diversity throughout our community, and the role our Christian values play in all that we do.
The work of DEI and fostering an inclusive Christian school community is ongoing. Our strategic plan has moved past the developmental stage of surveys, focus groups, and interviews. The findings of this multi-year process have informed a roadmap led by five guiding priorities, which we are excited to share at the end of this update.
I hope you see your child’s experience illustrated in the stories below and that our efforts are helping your Wildcat discover their best self and reach their greatest aspirations. We will continue to listen to our community, ask the right questions, and strive to create a sense of belonging for everyone.
Sincerely,
Frank Brown '04
Director of DEI and Community Engagement
The Roots of Our Journey
Westminster's path toward creating a robust sense of belonging for all is rooted in the Christian values that have existed since the School's founding. Our Christian values and commitment to DEI are intertwined at their core.
Go and Do Likewise
Westminster’s Christian commitment and DEI work go hand-in-hand. To that end, the Christian Mission and DEI committees of the Board of Trustees are dedicated to working together to ensure their focuses align. Last spring, the two committees held a joint meeting during which they explored how their purposes intersect and are committed to continuing their important collaboration.
A Path of Learning
As our students take their journey from Pre-First through 12th grade, Westminster values their character growth as much as their academic growth. At every stage, students learn to celebrate their own unique identities and those of their peers.
Belonging plays an important role in our classrooms, through subject matter and teaching practices.
Exploring Race as Young Artists
“If you look at the paintings that I love in art history, these are the paintings where great, powerful men are being celebrated on the big walls of museums throughout the world. What feels really strange is not to be able to see a reflection of myself in that world.”
Fourth grade artists dive into the above statement from artist Kehinde Wiley before creating their own digital self-portraits in the majestic style of Wiley’s art.
“We dissect this quote to have a conversation about who gets represented in art and how. For Wiley, he only saw white people depicted but loved the way the classical paintings were created and wanted to see himself,” Kevin Soltau, Lower School art teacher and DEI Coordinator, says. “When we have this conversation, students sometimes hesitate to say that the difference he saw was that no one in the paintings was Black, even though they know this is the answer. This allows us to delve into distinguishing 'racist talk' from racial discussions and emphasizes that it's acceptable to address matters of race openly.”
World Religions Up Close
For seventh graders, studying world religions and experiencing them through a day spent visiting places of worship around Atlanta is an annual tradition. From learning about the style and frequency of prayer in Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam to seeking similarities between the practices of the world’s five major religions, the World Religions unit of the Bible course is an opportunity for students to learn about religions practiced the world over, as well as by their classmates.
In addition to classroom lessons and October’s field trips to Suwanee Masjid/Gwinnett Islamic Circle, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Drepung Loseling Monastery Tibetan Cultural Center, and The Temple, students choose a particular object or concept from a religion to research, both through a written project and time in the Innovation Lab. Parents and community members join in for the Holy Days and Festivals Expo on campus, which Middle School Bible students attend to learn more about holy days in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
Opportunities for smaller groups allow interested students to dive deeper.
Gathering Together: Affinity Groups
Affinity groups have had a role at Westminster for more than a decade, providing valuable conversation spaces for students, faculty and staff, and parents. While they have taken different forms over the years, there are now 35 groups where Wildcats can connect and process shared experiences. Most groups are based on racial identity, gender or sexuality, religion, family status, and neurodivergence. Opportunities are available for students of all ages—the Middle School's Banana Splits brings together children navigating divorced families, for example, and Cocoa Conversations serves Upper School Black girls.
Each affinity group has its own schedule and style of meetings, but most include time to discuss all manner of topics. "The Black Student Affinity group has discussions about current world events all the way to debates on the greatest basketball player of all time. We like to foster a space where students of every grade can come, eat, and participate in the discussions and games, as the goal of this group is to give Black students in a predominately white school the ability to be unapologetically and unequivocally themselves. This affinity group has helped me find my people and made my Westminster experience one filled with community and belonging, and I am beyond grateful for it," says Hamilton Henderson '25.
Latino Student and Family Engagement
In 2007, a grant from the Roberto C. Goizueta Foundation opened the door for greater engagement between Westminster and Atlanta's Latino communities. When Daniel Searl joined Westminster’s faculty to take on this work alongside teaching and coaching, he and school leaders took a multifaceted approach by establishing Westminster's presence in the Latino community and inviting the Latino community to Westminster.
There were barriers—awareness, cost, language, and the idea of sending children across town for school, to name a few. But consistent engagement paid off. Daniel and other members of the faculty and admissions staff established and nurtured relationships through the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Latin American Association, and other organizations, and hosted events on campus like the Latino Youth Leadership Conference and Latina Women's Empowerment Summit, bringing upwards of 3,000 people to campus. Spanish classes partnered with businesses at Plaza Fiesta and took on translation projects for nonprofits.
“We took a lot of baby steps. There were times it felt like we weren’t getting much traction, or like not that many people came to an event, or that not that many of our Latino applicants were admitted, but you’ve got to keep trying and moving forward in small increments,” Daniel says.
As part of the efforts, Westminster led the charge for Latino family engagement among Atlanta's independent schools, often bringing awareness of the city's independent school offerings as a whole in addition to highlighting the opportunities available at Westminster.
Now, Westminster's population of Latino and Hispanic students has grown not only in numbers, but in their cultural impact on campus. The Café con Leche student affinity group and HOLA parent affinity group are thriving. Holidays like Hispanic Heritage Month and Día de los Muertos are celebrated across campus. Students engage with Hispanic cultures through not only Spanish language classes, but through JanTerm and MayATL experiences. The Latino students who chose Westminster in the 2000s and 2010s are now college graduates who are starting their professional lives or pursuing graduate education.
“It was not necessarily an easy path for everyone, but those students have thrived,” Daniel says. “And now we have Latino students and Black, white, and AAPI students all growing up together from Pre-First through grade 12, so they learn to appreciate those cultural differences early, and being together becomes the norm and part of who they are.”
Our entire school community participates in programs and events that foster belonging and connection.
Middle Schoolers Stand Against Bias and Bullying
Signed copies of the "No Place for Hate" pledge, surrounded by photos of advisory groups and a chain of student suggestions for creating an atmosphere of kindness.
Signed copies of the "No Place for Hate" pledge, surrounded by photos of advisory groups and a chain of student suggestions for creating an atmosphere of kindness.
The Middle School is officially No Place for Hate. This designation from the Anti-Defamation League is recognition of the division’s work to address bias and bullying proactively and holistically—and a student group is making it happen.
The Community Council began working toward achieving the designation during the 2020-21 school year. In 2022-23, the students who’d been leading this effort since the beginning were determined to make it a reality.
“It felt amazing to receive the designation! When we reached our goal at the end of the year, it felt great to know that we had helped create a positive environment that would foster future student friendships and improve our school's community,” says Anna Stewart, now a ninth grader.
To meet their goal, the council focused on three initiatives to encourage conversation and build community:
- A “Dance Like Everybody’s Watching” assembly at the beginning of the year, including the debut of the No Place for Hate banner signed by more than 85% of Middle School students
- A pen pal project that connected students in different homerooms
- A day with Extra Special People, a support agency for people with disabilities, in partnership with the Service Council
The Middle School exceeded the 80% benchmark set by No Place for Hate by having 86% of students sign a pledge to stand up against bias and bullying.
The Middle School exceeded the 80% benchmark set by No Place for Hate by having 86% of students sign a pledge to stand up against bias and bullying.
No Place for Hate helps create a culture where all students feel celebrated and accepted for their unique selves—especially important in the Middle School years, when students are undergoing changes to their brain chemistry and adjusting to new freedoms in the school day.
“Students are experiencing more autonomy and freedom compared to the structures and parameters in place in the younger years,” says James Jessup, Middle School Dean of Students and a Community Council advisor. “Students are trying to make sense of that, and it will manifest in tangible ways—sometimes by being welcoming, but sometimes by being exclusionary and marginalizing as they try to figure out new social structures. So, it’s important work to do now as they are trying to make sense of their new reality and navigate their increased autonomy.”
While the Community Council took the lead in creating activities customized for their peers at Westminster, more than 1,800 schools participate nationally in No Place for Hate, and the organization provides plenty of resources for helping schools build positive, inclusive cultures.
“The Community Council is trying to help all of our students feel seen and heard, especially our marginalized groups of students. We want to build community and understanding, help create an environment that is inclusive for all, and work toward creating an inclusive Christian atmosphere,” says David Gale, Sixth Grade Boys Chair and co-advisor of the Community Council.
Connect & Respect
In 2020, the Lower School’s DEI team developed Connect & Respect, a two-year curriculum designed to teach students from Pre-First through fifth grade about identity and inclusion. Now that the students in Love Hall have completed the program once, they are cycling through the topics a second time and leveling up to discuss them from their new perspectives as students who are two years older.
Lower School DEI Coordinators Stephanie Mesloh and Debbie Cushing will share what they’ve learned by creating and implementing the Connect & Respect curriculum at the Southern Association of Independent Schools DEI Institute in February 2024.
The Fearless Firsts and the Divine Nine
Black History Month is marked in schools across the country every year. Westminster is no exception to that. But student leaders, parents, and faculty put a twist on the “typical” commemorations to make a richer experience.
So, tapping into community connections through parents and faculty, the Upper School celebrated historically Black colleges and universities and welcomed members of the Divine Nine (Black Greek organizations) from Atlanta's HBCUs.
“We didn’t want the focus of our Black History Month observation and study to be solely tied to the plight of Black Americans. Instead, we sought an approach that would celebrate an important cultural heritage,” Frank Brown, Director of DEI and Community Building, says. “This was driven by the students. We asked them what they wanted to see and what kind of experiences they wanted to create.”
Lower School parent affinity group The Village made sure our youngest learners came away with new knowledge, so they focused on Westminster’s “Fearless Firsts,” the first Black graduates, as well as other notable Black alumni throughout the last 50 years. If you missed last year's magazine feature highlighting these graduates, you can read it here.
Coming Alongside Our Students
It takes a village to raise a child—and our parents and faculty are eager to take advantage of opportunities that help guide students toward lives of inclusive leadership.
UNITED in Support of LGBTQIA+ Students
The Upper School’s affinity group for LGBTQIA+ students, UNITED, has been going strong for more than a decade, as has ally group Spectrum. In addition to creating a supportive space for belonging for LGBTQIA+ students, the group and its faculty advisors also organize events like a Pride Week celebration.
UNITED has held parent nights for the last several years, typically once a semester. While the event was originally created for parents of LGBTQIA+ students in the Upper School, this fall’s gathering marked something new: parents and faculty from all divisions were invited. More than 40 attended, joined by faculty and administrators showing their support for LGBTQIA+ students.
“Seeing some parents at the Parents’ Night events for several years in a row, it’s really heartwarming to see how their relationship with their kids grows and deepens as they support them and learn about them,” Karen says.
In October, Middle and Upper School students, faculty, and staff celebrated Pride Week with a variety of events and opportunities to support our LGBTQ+ Wildcats.
In October, Middle and Upper School students, faculty, and staff celebrated Pride Week with a variety of events and opportunities to support our LGBTQ+ Wildcats.
Finding Common Ground
DEI is rooted in celebrating each member of the community for their unique perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. For parents, Common Ground is a place to do just that. Common Ground’s storytelling gatherings, open to parents in all three divisions, connect community members from all sorts of backgrounds in a no-pressure, warm atmosphere.
Each gathering features four to five designated “sharers” who speak about a common theme across cultures. This year’s first gathering, in September, featured summer traditions from India, Colombia, Spain, and Kenya. During the second gathering, in early November, participants shared traditions and practices related to caring for babies.
Fostering Community Over Dinner
Parents gathered in Barge Commons for Westminster's second Equitable Dinners event, part of a national movement of similar dinner events designed to build community and encourage conversation about difficult topics.
Parents gathered in Barge Commons for Westminster's second Equitable Dinners event, part of a national movement of similar dinner events designed to build community and encourage conversation about difficult topics.
September’s Equitable Dinners event gave parents and some Middle and Upper School students a night of thought-provoking conversation—and new connections with one another.
Equitable Dinners Atlanta is a citywide event with hosts and conversations taking place around the metro area during a one-week period. Each year’s program includes a one-person play, followed by facilitated conversations around dinner tables of 6-10 people. Equitable Dinners Atlanta is part of the national Equitable Dinners movement.
This year’s play, about a dying grandmother who has a statue dedicated in her honor, struck a chord with Angel Parks P ’27.
“The woman essentially is saying, ‘Thank you for the statue, but this doesn’t really help move my people forward.’ We see this all the time. People will put up statues for Martin Luther King Jr., C.T. Vivian, or Ralph David Abernathy, but we miss the solutions to invest in what the true dream and vision of these legends,” she says.
In the conversation that followed at her table, Angel and others shared their experiences caring for elderly family members, including their encounters with myths that Black people can endure greater physical pain than others and racial disparities in maternal health outcomes.
“We talked about how experiences build up inside and make you move differently through society. If you're the only person of your race in a room, you don't even know which stereotype you’re being labeled with,” she says. “We even talked about how Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Akira Ross, Tyre Nichols and so many more, were just living, and how traumatic the events that made us know their names were. These instances impact all of our culture, and make you move through life differently.”
When it came time to talk about how to take action against racism and discrimination, the group first discussed being allies for one another. “But one of the fathers at our table pointed out a beautiful point," Angel says. "He said, ‘I don’t want us to be allies for each other. It’s about being more like a community or a family or a neighborhood.’”
A table group from the recent Equitable Dinners event. Participants found it easy to connect and begin sharing stories and perspectives.
A table group from the recent Equitable Dinners event. Participants found it easy to connect and begin sharing stories and perspectives.
The group is hoping to meet again on their own time with their family members this semester. “We wanted to be intentional about allowing this event to cultivate, at the minimum, a neighborhood or smaller community within Westminster. We really connected and it was so genuine,” Angel says.
Teachers Work to Better Understand Racial Identity
A group of 12 white teachers in the Middle School spent last year learning more about race and whiteness as part of a faculty cohort that met monthly.
“It was for white educators, yes, but really it started from a place of white human beings,” says art teacher Lauri Jones. Led by DEI practitioner and former Westminster faculty member Jen Veatch, the group used books, articles, podcasts, and current events to discuss what racial identity means as a white person, systematic racism, and white privilege. Each member did independent work between sessions.
“We live in a culture where whiteness is the social default, and we may not even notice that. This group gave us permission to have conversations about our white racial identity in a safe, supportive environment so we can start doing the work we need to do for social justice and be socially responsible teachers.”
The group’s time together culminated in a trip to The National Memorial for Peace and Justice and The Legacy Museum, both in Montgomery, Alabama. The memorial site includes a square with 800 six-foot monuments to symbolize thousands of racially based lynchings in the United States—one for each of the counties where lynchings took place. The Legacy Museum uses art and immersive storytelling to trace African American history from human trafficking and slavery, through the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the modern prison industrial complex.
“It’s horrific, but it’s a truth that people need to know. It was hard,” Lauri says. “If we had not done the work that we did in the year leading up to this trip, it would have been hard for me not to be completely overwhelmed with shame as a white American.”
At the end of the yearlong cohort, Lauri says she gained a new understanding about her own racial identity, her role in working against racism, and how to engage students in those conversations:
“I felt so grateful that Westminster provided this opportunity for me and other teachers. This experience helped me feel like I have an understanding of how to talk to students about race and how to open the doors for students in exploring and expressing their identities. It helped me feel more comfortable with the language and the conversations, and in encouraging my students to ‘go there’ in their artwork.”
The cohort's culminating experience included time at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a memorial for victims of racially motivated lynchings.
The cohort's culminating experience included time at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a memorial for victims of racially motivated lynchings.
Looking Forward
As we look ahead to Westminster's future, we remain committed to cultivating a school where all students feel like they belong and are celebrated for their unique selves. The School's DEI Roadmap, below, takes a long-range approach to ensuring equity and inclusion in ways that honor Westminster’s mission, reflect best practices, and build upon past success.
Our DEI Strategic Plan
In 2020, Westminster embarked on a strategic planning process to advance our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, beginning with a thorough review of DEI-related endeavors spanning from the School’s founding.
Westminster enlisted the expertise of SIR, a strategy management consultancy firm, to facilitate a community-wide survey in spring 2021, which pinpointed key areas that shape the foundation of our comprehensive strategic plan. Through this valuable community input, it became clear that our foremost priority was fostering a culture of belonging—ensuring that all students feel valued, respected, and empowered to fully thrive at Westminster.
The School then partnered with illuceo Consulting Group to conduct a thorough assessment of our community’s culture and climate. This assessment evaluated our capacity to fulfill our vision and mission, leveraging data collected from the SIR survey, the 2019 Student Mental Health Survey, and the 2016 Alumni Survey. Additionally, illucio engaged more than 70 community members representing diverse backgrounds and constituency groups in focus groups and interviews. This extensive process aimed to clarify the key insights derived from the earlier surveys and identify actionable areas for improvement.
Consisting of five overarching priorities, the DEI Roadmap developed after these research activities aligns with the most significant findings and focus areas returned by the data.
The five priorities are:
Our Five Priorities
Demonstrate Westminster’s institutional mission with clarity and purpose, reflecting our commitment to the shared values of inclusive Christian faith and DEI principles.
Normalize and prioritize the respectful sharing of ideas, experiences, and inclusive perspectives while establishing a culture of trust and psychological safety.
Affirm historically underrepresented and marginalized groups by actively seeking to understand and fundamentally improve their experiences.
Cultivate a deep connection between our mental health and inclusion efforts; build institutional capacity to support the mental health and wellness needs of a diverse student body.
Establish an educational approach prioritizing students’ holistic growth, sense of belonging, and academic achievement.
Our work in diversity, equity, and inclusion is essential to our mission as a school—and necessary as we educate students who are preparing to lead in our vibrant city and beyond. The five priorities of the DEI Roadmap were thoughtfully developed to reflect Westminster's values and enhance our students' education, both in outcomes and in day-to-day experience. We are grateful for all the partners in our community who work with us toward a greater sense of belonging for every Wildcat and look forward to our continued growth together.
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