Equity, Inclusion, & Justice

• Monthly Newsletter: The Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (EIJ) committee creates and distributes a monthly newsletter throughout the Bullis community to share resources and voices on specific topics.
• Heritage Assemblies: We have revamped our heritage assemblies to create more inclusive programming for the entire school community. These programs educate the Bullis community on relevant topics and include more voices from those communities. We also work to include more participation among the divisions to present the Hispanic Heritage Assembly, Martin Luther King, Jr. Assembly, and Black History Month Assembly, and more.
• People of Color Conference: Bullis staff members attend the People of Color Conference every year — and have also given presentations.

In our classrooms and in our community, we explore identity and what it means to be a community in every grade.

Throughout all divisions students in our Humanities & Global Studies Signature Program:

• Engage deeply in humanities studies, including social studies, English, art, and world languages
• Develop empathy with other communities and cultures
• Explore the world through meaningful travel and service
• Grow as global thinkers
• Are inspired to critically examine the world’s challenges and be agents of change

In the Middle and Upper School, we engage with equity, inclusion, and justice (EIJ) in our twice-weekly advisory meetings. These year-long small groups provide a safe space to hear and be heard.

• Curriculum: We continue to update the curriculum to incorporate a greater variety of perspectives. Additionally, two specific courses of note are African American Studies and Latin American Studies. Both courses are designed to approach content through lenses and voices not always considered.
• Student training opportunities: Student Diversity Leadership Conference and Diversity in the DMV.
• Upper School Student Clubs: Black Student Union, Prism (the Gay Straight Alliance), and Educate Girls Globally
• Student publication: InLight Magazine
• Discovery Days: the committee ran a course titled Dialoguing Across Identities

InLight is an Upper School student-led diversity magazine that encourages dialogue, explores different cultures, lifts student voices, and interrogates injustices.

Here are some of our initiatives, activities, and accomplishments.

• Plan messages and presentations for assemblies and activities for students and staff.
• Shape curricular response to issues of equity, inclusion, and justice that emerge in current events.
• Surveys: Comprehensive survey of all staff to identify their “lived experience” at Bullis and their work on the campus supporting diversity, student surveys and workshops.
• Collaboration across the Bullis community with Diversity Chairs of the Parents Association.
• Diversity Training Programs for the committee, administrative team, and all staff by both outside experts and students.
• Professional development opportunities including through the Equity Collaborative at Georgetown Day School, the annual People of Color Conference, and AIMS diversity training.
• Membership in EastEd, a local collaborative of diversity practitioners at area independent schools.
• Student Clubs: Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice student clubs.
• Equity Training and Events: Student attendance at the Middle School Sandy Spring Diversity Conference and other Equity training and events
• All-school events, including Think B4U Speak Campaign, Freedom Rider/Activist Speaker Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, Day of Silence and screening of the documentary “An Ordinary Hero” and panel discussion with Freedom Riders Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, Dion Diamond and Rev. Reggie Green.
• Student Summit: Bullis hosted the first metrowide DC Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) Student Summit, with 14 schools and 130 students in attendance.

   

• The Bullis Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (EIJ) Co-Chairs collaborated with BITlab Director Matt Zigler to present at the NAIS People of Color Conference. Their presentation, Shaping Identity One Makerspace at A Time shared Bullis' work creating multidisciplinary project-based learning centering around identity.
• Matt Zigler, BITlab Director, and Allison Ewing, (EIJ) Co-Chair, won a STEM award for a project on African American studies.