Leadership Development

The NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) is a multiracial, multicultural gathering of Upper School student leaders (grades 9-12) from across the U.S. SDLC focuses on self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community. Led by a diverse team of trained adult and peer facilitators, participants develop effective cross-cultural communication skills, better understand the nature and development of effective strategies for social justice, practice expression through the arts, and learn networking principles and strategies. In addition to large group sessions, SDLC "family groups" and "home groups" allow for small group, often intense dialogue, and sharing.

 

Every year Archer sends a group of students to attend the SDLC conference. Students apply for the opportunity and when they return to campus they share their learning with the larger community.

 

The People of Color Conference (PoCC), sponsored by the National Association of Independent Schools, provides a safe space for professional development and networking for people of color and allies of all backgrounds. PoCC equips educators at every level, from teachers to trustees, with knowledge, skills, and experiences to improve and enhance the interracial, interethnic, and intercultural climate in their schools, as well as the attending academic, social-emotional, and workplace performance outcomes for students and adults alike.

 

Archer's faculty and administration are a community of practitioners dedicated to learning and refining their practice, including in the areas of diversity and inclusion. Faculty summer reading has addressed gender, race, and class as they relate to education and workshops, are consistently offered on related topics. To facilitate this work, the following national experts have conducted recent training on campus:

Off campus, faculty and administration have attended:

All Archer clubs are student-initiated and student-led. Each diversity club elects an Executive Board to coordinate its efforts and develop its programming for the year. Students also take initiative to engage the school in Community Connections and Town Hall Meetings. Similarly, student artists and choreographers have used the visual and performing arts to cultivate leadership and explore identity. Finally, Archer student press frequently features editorials, columns, and letters to the editor on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In that vein, Archer is one of only three private schools in the country to have earned the JEA’s First Amendment Free Press Award.