Poly Attends NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference & PoCC

Poly is thrilled to share that six Upper School students attended the NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference in St. Louis, MO, and a team of nine faculty/staff attended the concurrent People of Color Conference (PoCC) last month.

The People of Color Conference is one of the signature professional learning and community-building opportunities for educators of color that the National Association of Independent Schools has offered for more than 35 years. Poly has sent faculty and staff for almost 20 years to the conference, and in the past two years has made an institutional commitment to support teams of colleagues who can build professional and personal connections within this national gathering. Participation in this conference further inspires them to continue their work cultivating inclusive teaching and learning, and sharing their insights from PoCC with their Poly colleagues to deepen our commitment to transformative teaching. This year’s conference theme was “Gateways to Freedom: A Confluence of Truth, Knowledge, Joy, and Power.”

At the same time, the NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference was attended by six Upper School students: Ellie K. '24, Alyssa C. '25, Ava T. '25, Jorge M. '25, Langston S. '26, and Uriel R. '27. The conference is a multiracial, multicultural gathering of student leaders from eligible independent high schools across the U.S. and abroad. It focuses on self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community. Led by a diverse team of trained adult and peer facilitators, participating students develop cross-cultural communication skills, design effective strategies for social justice practice through dialogue and the arts, and learn the foundations of allyship and networking principles.

“We are particularly proud of this group as they came together across grades 9-12 to build community with each other and to share their experiences and learn from the experiences of their peers in independent schools across the country as they work to foster an inclusive student community in our Upper School,” said Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Michaela Mares-Tamayo.

We are thrilled to welcome back these students and faculty and look forward to learning from their experiences.