On December 10th the Lindsay Room was packed, and all that could be heard was Mr. Teacher’s booming voice. As students continuously gathered into the room, whispers and excitement arose, and soon, over a hundred voices combined to filled the space.

Willie Teacher, the diversity coordinator for the Upper School, initiated a series of workshops called “Air and Shares,” intending to give all students’ voices a chance to be heard. With the help of Christopher Arnold, Hackley School’s, the Dean of Student Life, Mr. Teacher commenced these workshops so students could voice their opinions on current events, specifically touching on cases in the media dealing with police brutality. Mr.Teacher and Mr. Arnold attended the Student Diversity Leadership Conference and the People of Color Conference from December 4 to December 6. “The non-indictment decisions were happening around Staten Island and Ferguson. And our conversations felt cathartic on our flight back from the conference. It was then decided that perhaps our community could benefit from the conversation,” said Mr. Teacher.

The first “Air and Share” was held on December 10th, 2014, when over 150 students crammed into the Lindsay Room and discussed the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases. When everyone first walked into the room, they were given a Post-It note. There were posters along the walls of the room that displayed a quote about racism, and each student had to choose a quote that interested them, and write their thoughts about it on the Post-It.  “The first was amazing because so many different kids were willing to share their ideas about the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases and so many kids were willing to listen,” said Mr. Arnold. Mr. Teacher has worked hard to establish the importance of having these workshops. On the topic of discussing issues of racism in the US he said, “It’s not our fault, but it is our responsibility.”

A variety of opinions were expressed at the workshop, including Freshman Rachel Cohen. She said, “I think that sometimes in the New York suburbs we tend to be in a bit of a bubble and I think that the ‘Air and Share’ was a good chance to make people more aware of social issues going on in the media.”

The second “Air and Share” workshop didn’t take place until three months later on March 9. This workshop was “more about practicing the community norms and building,” said Mr. Teacher. Only about around fifty students attended, fewer than the first time.. The main focus of the second workshop was a TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian woman who discussed the danger of a single story. “The single story creates stereotypes and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story,” said Adichie. After the TED talk was shown, Mr. Teacher handed out pieces of paper with which the students were to reflect on the TED talk by creating their own stories with a bubble diagram. Sophomore Will Cotter, who attended the workshop, said “In my opinion it was more of watching a video, although I did enjoy the video, I think no one was really allowed to express what they thought. I thought it was going to be more of a discussion.” Alexi Sandhu, the ninth grade leader for Hackley’s Diversity club UNITY, slightly disagreed. “I think this was a very good way to understand what’s going on in the world.”

The title “Air and Share” was carefully decided on. “We needed an opportunity to create a space to air our differences and similarities our questions, our thoughts, and as human beings, our feelings. That’s our air to get it out. The share is that we again as human beings are creatures of relationships; how we see one another, what we give to one another, and at times what we get from one another; basically how we share,” said Mr. Teacher.

“When’s the next ‘Air and Share’” is a question that’s been asked all over Hackley School. The buzz surrounding the workshops was enormous, and people want more. Mr. Arnold said that he would love to have the next “Air and Share” be planned and executed by students. Mr.Teacher said, “We need to collect the data from various groups and students here on campus.” Mr. Teacher and Mr. Arnold would then use that to make a list of the next actions that they would implement “in the pursuit of change and education, for diversity and inclusion,” said Mr. Teacher. Freshman Lei Anne Rabeje is looking forward to the next workshop. Lei Anne said, “Having another Air and Share to talk about ideas we tend to push aside would be really interesting. I loved the first two, and I can’t wait for the next one.”