ESDiversity 

Mission Statement

The Episcopal School of Dallas is committed to creating, maintaining, and nurturing a diverse environment as it prepares young men and women for lives of intellectual discovery, integrity, and purpose.  We value diversity in ethnicity, culture, religion, language, gender, age, family structure, and socioeconomic background.  The ESD community fosters a global perspective, an understanding of alternate viewpoints, and a sensitivity to the interests, traditions, beliefs, and concerns of others.  We believe that diversity in our school community enhances the quality of the education that ESD provides and is essential to the development of well-rounded people in the twenty-first century.

Program Overview

The diversity program at the Episcopal School of Dallas focuses on providing a better environment for all students through education.  We believe that every student has qualities that make him or her unique; therefore, we seek to educate the student body on ways to embrace our differences as we come to realize that we are all one body.

Martha Bowden (Lower School Diversity Coordinator) and Sharon Stout (ESD Diversity Director The Upper School Diversity Club also participates in DADYO (Dallas Area Diverse Youth   Organization) along with several other private schools in the Dallas area.  Students participate in monthly activities at different schools, and ESD hosts an annual DADYO Retreat at Wolf Run.) organize and lead a team of faculty volunteers that develop programs that touch on the various forms of diversity in our community and in our world.  Students in the Lower School participate in Mix It Up at Lunch, Middle School student discussed diversity issues during advisory, and Upper School students attend the annual Student Diversity Leadership Conference sponsored by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).  Both the Middle and Upper Schools have active Diversity Clubs that meet regularly to plan activities such service projects, movie presentations, chapel talks, and or a speaker. 

ESDiversity strives to make every student in the ESD community feel safe, secure, and proud of our educational environment.

Experiences

ESDiversity at the Lower School involves cooperative learning experiences, small group discussions, organized activities, book talks, lunch room discussions and chapel talks. Father Harmuth, with the help of his dog Eve, first and fourth grade students and the Chapel players present thoughtful and lively productions of biblical stories. We learn from these accounts that we are all created in the image of God and God loves each and every one of us. We learn about important celebrations in cultures and religions celebrated all over the world. Students participate in informational talks when the topic involves holidays or celebrations from their own culture.   

Classroom teachers lead weekly class meetings to discussion important issues of inclusion, tolerance, forgiveness and cooperation. Students actively participate in these discussions and at times role play scenarios take place.

Lunch room discussion topics have included World Religions and the golden rule, cyberbullying, and tolerance of differences. Faculty and school counselors facilitate table discussions during these lunch periods. Following the discussion, students are encouraged to journal about the discussion and what they learned from it.