Last summer, Saint James formed three Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committees (alumni, faculty, and student) to better address and support the needs of our community.

Each of the committees have already made important contributions this year, including participating in an anti-racism workshop for faculty, drafting a "community conversation" contract, establishing a Diversity Statement that was approved by the Board, and beginning a diversity audit with the Bond Group.

The student committee, co-chaired by Nash Peña '21 and Rodrigo Tejado '22, met during exam week to reflect on their year. The committee started to form last summer, when students were watching social justice protests while at home.

"I think because of what happened last summer, a lot of students that are sitting here right now were advocating on their own social media, so we were very excited to come into this year and start the groundwork," said Francine Diaz '21.

The committee started the year by hosting meetings with each dorm cohort.

"It was a good way to introduce our committee and some of the issues," said Peña. "I feel like it really helped connect the community and helped everyone confront things they’ve never confronted before or think about things in different views."

Tejado added that this year was really about getting started and establishing what they wanted the committee to accomplish. One project they worked on was adding flags of the various nationalities of our students in the Refectory. They hope to have the flags in place for the upcoming school year.

Josh Drabczyk '22 said the student committee along with the faculty committee started research on adding a memorial for the enslaved people who were at the school when it was founded. That work will continue this year.

After acts of violence against the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community this spring, the committee held a fundraiser to raise both money and awareness.

"When you're on campus, in reality, you’re only focusing on school and sports and stuff like that," said Diaz. "But with awareness, people become more mindful of what's going on around them."

Peña said they hope to hold additional fundraisers this year, with donations going to various organizations that support marginalized groups.

Next year, the committee will be co-chaired by Tejado and Teresa Shang '23. New members will include Kennedy Brown '24, Catherine Charlton '22, Divine Dabire '25, Jenifer Diaz '24, Daniel Peacher '22, and Juliana Rodriguez '24 with Josephine Akhigbe '22 and Drabczyk also returning.

"This is a project that we started and we want to see it grow," said Diaz. "We want to look back in a few years and see how it’s going; I'm excited to see."