At Walker’s, we create and sustain communities where every student experiences belonging. Students are a crucial voice who shape and drive our work forward. We center student experience with their multiple social identities in order to prepare them for full and intentional lives within and beyond Walker’s.
Through student affinity groups and regular dialogue across differences, Walker’s develops critically engaged students committed to social change and transformative impact. We develop community through empathy, culturally responsive teaching and reciprocal learning. We acknowledge the value of diversity within our community and weave Social Justice and Inclusion into the fabric of who we are and what we do. This work lives in our classrooms, our dorms, on our fields, and it is central to our identity as a school.
The Ward and Williams Center for Equity and Justice
The Ward and Williams Center for Equity and Justice provides a space for students and adults to gather in a wide variety of ways, both formally and informally. As part of our Social Justice programming, it houses resources, archival information, and the offices of our Assistant Head for Student Life and Director of Social Justice. In honor of their 50th Reunion, the Class of 1971 made a collective gift to support the work of this Center in perpetuity to sustain a lasting impact on their alma mater.
Elisa Del Valle, Assistant Head for Student Life and Director of Social Justice; Donna Williams ’71; and Dr. Meera Viswanathan, Head of School, at the dedication of the Center. Ms. Williams and Cassandra “Casey” Ward ’71 (framed photo) were Walker’s first Black graduates.
Elisa serves as the Assistant Head for Student Life and Director of Social Justice and Inclusion. Prior to her arrival at Walker's in 2016, she spent 12 years working in higher education in residential life, student activities, leadership development, and new student orientation at Mount Holyoke College and Wesleyan University. While at Mount Holyoke, Elisa utilized her passion and graduate degree in Social Justice Education to design a more inclusive curriculum for the residential student experience.
Middle School Social Justice Seminar is rooted in building communities of belonging, as students work to understand identity and stereotypes through introspection and perspective. Students explore the many ways identity is formed by reflecting on their own identities, assumptions, stereotypes, prejudice, and bias in the world.
9th Grade and New Student Seminar
In this course students explore their own identities and think about the ways identity impacts their perspective and their interactions with others. The curriculum examines social systems and concepts that provide advantages to some social identity groups while restricting access and opportunity to others. Specifically, there is an examination of the ways that socialization affects us and one another in the pursuit of justice and community. The class concludes the term addressing the ways that we can each take action within our own spheres of influence to create positive social change.
Inequality in the United States
This History elective introduces juniors and seniors to systems of social inequality in the United States as they investigate the structural, interpersonal, and social dimensions of oppression. Course materials explore the ways that sexism, heterosexism, and racism have developed over time as well as the ways they impact each of us everyday. Students develop the language, tools, and skills to create positive social change.
Student Affinity Groups
Student voice and belonging is critical in identity development. Student affinity groups serve as affirmative and educational spaces for students to get involved. At Walker’s there is an institutional commitment to student affinity groups which are supported by faculty advisors, the Dean of Students Office, and the Director of Social Justice and Inclusion.
Asian Student Collective
The Asian Student Collective works to build unity amongst students who identify as Asian. It serves as a social network to connect self-identified Asian students in the Walker’s community and to promote cross-cultural understanding within the group itself. It also hosts campus-wide events that share the culture and heritage of Asian students in an effort to encourage and promote community-wide awareness.
Black Student Union (BSU)
The Black Student Union (BSU) is a social network that is open to all students with its main priority of creating affinity space for self-identified Black students. BSU serves as a vehicle to help students create authentic connections and harness unique perspectives while learning how to appreciate and value the various dimensions of diversity each student brings to the campus. BSU offers unique cultural learning sessions to its members and accomplices, peer-to-peer mentoring, and community engagement.
Latinx American Student Organization (LASO)
LASO aims to create a space for self-identified latinx/hispanic students at Walker’s to collectively make our community aware of current events affecting the global latinx/hispanic community through discussion. We run school organized dances and activities with the ultimate goal of incorporating respect for different cultures into our everyday lives here at Walker’s.
Caribbean Club
Caribbean Culture Club is a new club to The Ethel Walker School. This initiative was started in November of 2019 by Shermya Dover-John ’21 from the Caribbean Island of Dominica. This club was started with the goal of sharing the cultures of all students of Caribbean descent in a safe community to do so.
WINGS
Wings (Gender and Sexuality Alliance) provides a forum for students to talk about issues related to sexual orientation, gender identity, heterosexism and homophobia.
Jewish Student Union (JSU)
The JSU is a student group that serves as a place where students are able to discuss, teach, and learn about historic and current events that have and are affecting the Jewish Community. The group values sharing and celebrating Jewish Holidays with one another and the community to build its awareness through programming and events. These events allow everyone to get involved and learn something new about Jewish traditions. All students who self-identify as Jewish and even folks who just want to learn about Jewish culture and traditions are encouraged to join JSU.
SHINE
SHINE is a Christian affinity group that aims to pursue spiritual growth through being in community with biblical principles and emphasizing relationships between the girls and their faith. SHINE meets weekly and discusses different topics related to faith as well as has movie nights throughout the year. Students from all backgrounds and levels of faith are welcome to join.
Student White Anti-Racist Group
The White Anti-Racist Group was created to provide an opportunity for white students at Ethel Walker to discuss how to better take an anti-racist stance in learning about race and racism. The nature of white privilege is that many white people don’t have language for understanding their own racial identity, and a White Anti-Racist Group is a space for students to develop that understanding and language in conjunction with learning how we can combat racism.
In Their Words
There is nothing better than reaching the end of a difficult conversation on social justice and realizing that there is so much complexity in one’s identity.
—Kristen S. ’21
Conferences and Events
As a commitment to learning and growing in Justice and Equity work, Walker’s students and faculty are encouraged and supported in their attendance at conferences, community gatherings and training. This attendance contributes to and complements the work of course materials, affinity groups, and is critical in our work with students towards their growth and solidarity with others in Justice and Equity work.
Student Conferences
NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference
SPHERE Student of Color Summit
Jumoke’s Middle School Annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Oratory Contest
CAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference
Community GAYme Nights
The Young Women of Color Conference (Walker’s, Choate, Miss Porter’s School and Loomis Chaffee)
SPHERE Consortium
The Ethel Walker School is a member of SPHERE, a consortium of 13 independent schools from the greater Hartford area whose mission is to encourage and assist member schools in collaboration to sustain diverse, inclusive, and culturally responsive environments for teaching and learning. Member schools seek to foster respect for difference and an understanding of multicultural perspectives in curricular and extracurricular programs.
On Wednesday, October 4, 2023, LGBTQIA+ author and activist Sarah Prager ’04 addressed The Ethel Walker School community during an assembly hosted by Walker’s Ward and Williams Center for Equity…
Chenxi "Rita" Xiang '24 has been published in the upcoming fall issue of The Concord Review for her history paper titled “Suffrage in Chinatown: Mabel Lee and the Female Chinese…
