Affinity Alliance Day, or AAD, is a new day blocked into the George School calendar and hopefully a new GS tradition. George School prides itself on its diversity, and rightfully so. The school’s current population consists of 28% international students and 40% students of color. With so many students of different backgrounds, the school allows for their students to click and converse with others about their identity.

Acknowledging that there’s a diverse student population, the school knows many students don’t know much about other cultures besides the basic information. In an effort to change this, the Student Inclusion Committee, sponsored by the DEI coordinator Zahra Patterson, created Affinity Alliance Day. Set for April 21st, AAD will be a day of learning about the history and current events of the cultures that make up the student body.

The event starts during Meeting For Worship on Sunday, from 10:45 am to 11:30 am, with a query written by a few members of the SIC. It’s followed by an outdoor brunch in Walton Parking Lot, with tables set up by each affinity group where they’ll present historical or contemporary information about the culture. There will also be many cultural games, music, snacks, dancing, reflection, and time spent as a community. 

I interviewed Zahra, the new DEI coordinator and Student Inclusion Committee sponsor about the creation of Affinity Alliance Day. Zahra worked with Rachel Williams, the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,  to connect with the affinity groups and learn how to better support their needs. At a SIC meeting early‌ this school year, they mentioned creating a day to better support not only the affinity groups’ needs but also to educate the community and create more curiosity; breaking down the walls that separate the cultures just a little bit more.

In November 2023, six students and a few teachers went to the Student Diversity Leadership Conference to be amongst other peers who understood being in a diverse community. However, as Zahra mentioned “there was still a feeling of discomfort about bringing diversity to their peers” for any reason. Not necessarily that people don’t want to talk about it, nobody knows exactly what to say or when to say it. There’s no lack of trust, just a lack of the right time. Zahra hopes that “AAD [opens] up space to engage with difference in a more comfortable way and slowly create a better space to have more difficult conversations about our pain”

We live in a world that doesn’t take a lot of time to think about different cultures. At GS, “Students have so much daily grind and do so much, so being able to create a space that creates joy and celebration of the diversity, and I think that’s what makes George School George School and it’s not something we get to see often.”

Looking ahead, Zahra hopes that this day will be more than just about the affinity groups but about the community as a whole. “We have 8 affinity groups, and we have a lot of students who aren’t in affinity groups that might want to bring something to this day.”‌, Student Inclusion created Affinity Alliance Day “for student affinity groups to come together and create activities that are connected to cultural histories in a way that is both fun and educational for every student. It’s a day to acknowledge where we are as a country and sit together to underscore the importance of community in the face of scary things happening.”