The school selected six applicants to attend the Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) in St. Louis, Missouri from Nov. 29 to Dec. 2. The conference aims to help people of color in independent high schools support one another as well as build and sustain inclusive communities, according to an email from Assistant Head of School for Community and Belonging and Associate Director of Admission Janine Jones.
Jones said the SDLC is important because of the unique opportunity for students to meet from across the country.
“[The conference] is important because participants are able to connect with like-minded students from across the country,” Jones said. “Most students share that it is a life changing experience for them. Students participate in general sessions with powerful keynote speakers and family groups where they can go in depth with learning around diversity, equity and inclusion [DEI] and affinity groups where deep connections are formed.”
Nikhil Sarvaiya ’26 said it was eye-opening to learn more about himself and other communities.
“I attended the Student Diversity and Leadership Conference because I feel strongly about supporting DEI work within our community and felt that this was an amazing opportunity to learn more about my own identity, the experiences of others from around the world, the struggles marginalized communities face and how I can make changes to foster inclusion,” Sarvaiya said. “Looking back, SDLC was one of the most transformative experiences of my life, and it reshaped the way I look at my own identity and the constraints of the social structures around us.”
Dylan Wuo ’25 said his favorite experience from the conference was discussing what he had learned each night with his classmates.
“We would get back to the hotel at 11 [p.m.], and we would talk until midnight about what we learned,” Wuo said. “What was special about this was that we would be discovering new things about ourselves and [our lives] while eating dinner at midnight.”
Wuo said he also appreciated hearing a variety of experiences from other attendees from different communities.
“I attended this meeting because it’s a great opportunity to get to know different perspectives of students in schools across the nation,” Wuo said. “It is awesome to share experiences and hear the voices of so many other students and teachers. It’s important because so many ideas can be bounced off through speakers and affinity groups. There is so much that we can take back to [the school] to improve our campus life and make it more inclusive.”
