The title of the Chapel Talk this morning is The Power of Diversity. 

The inspiration for this title comes from General Jay Silveria, the Superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy. 

 

The General made a powerful speech last month (that went viral on social media) after a few reckless students at the Academy’s Prep School wrote highly offensive racial slurs on an online message board which targeted and were directed at classmates of color.

 

Watch and listen to his persuasive words carefully and consider how this message could apply to St. Christopher’s School.

WATCH VIDEO HERE or use the drop-down in the video player above

  

We may not have had an incident of this magnitude as described in the video, but there has been cause for concern about how we treat one another here at St. Christopher’s.  

 

You see, similar to the Air Force Academy our diversity includes race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, language, religion, mental and physical ability, economic classes, and immigration status.

We are a collection of diverse individuals—diverse in the way that we look, feel and think.  

And yet there are times when we do not treat each other with dignity and respect. Especially those who appear to be different from us.  

We sometimes isolate the students who seem to be unlike us and cast them aside here.
 

We don’t necessarily value the different perspectives that each of us brings to this community.             

 

We currently have exchange students from totally different countries and cultures. How many of YOU have had conversations with these students?

 

Imagine if you were visiting a foreign country for a year and were enrolled in a school that didn’t look like your school, or feel like your school and the students simply ignored you each day, how would you feel?  

 

I have watched closely how these boys have been disregarded and ignored and that is unacceptable here at St. Christopher's. 

 

These young men are visitors to our school and country and we have a responsibility to make them feel included and welcomed.

 

I have also had heartfelt and confidential conversations with some of you and to my surprise I have learned that some of your classmates have been mistreating other students based on race, identification or sexuality.

 

St. Christopher’s is no place for racism, bigotry and bullying and it will not be tolerated.  

 

As the general stated, it is time for us to find a better way.  It is time for us to become leaders in the field of diversity and turn our own weaknesses into our strengths.  

 

We must do better job of making our school more inclusive.  We must always treat each other with DIGNITY and RESPECT.  

 

And if you can’t respect one another or share that value, then maybe this is not the place for you.             

We promote that strength of community has served as the cornerstone of our success and that we are a community that is diverse, inclusive and welcoming.  

 

Well it is time for us to start living up to that statement.  

 

Diversity expands our capacity for viewing issues or problems from multiple perspectives, angles and vantage points.  

 

This is the power that diversity brings to our school.

If we open ourselves up to learn, respect, and embrace each other for our different and unique perspectives we can become a powerful community.  

 

For many of you, being here on this campus is your only opportunity to have real and meaningful interaction with people from diverse groups. Whether you like it or not, many times we find ourselves segregated from other groups while we are outside of school.  

 

You would be wise to treat your school-experience like an opening door to the entire world.                      

You will not be here at St. Christopher’s forever, and successful performance in college, the workplace, and your personal lives will require sensitivity to human differences and the ability to relate to people from varied cultural backgrounds.

By being exposed to diversity now, you are laying the groundwork to be comfortable working and interacting with with a wide range of individuals from all ethnicities.

If you are not prepared for this, you will not be as desirable as a candidate for college or to an employer.        

 

As an educator I hold dear Dr. Martin Luther Jr. King’s words that “the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.”  

Any school can teach from a book, but St. Christopher's has the power of its diversity to learn, prepare, and compete when we come together as one.

 

The interaction that we have with one another increases our knowledge base. We learn more from people who are different from us than we do from people who are similar to us.

Having different backgrounds, different points of view, and different life experiences will lend itself to meaningful and deep classroom discussions, and hopefully allow us to be more empathetic to others.

Also, your self-knowledge and self-insight will be sharpened by comparing and contrasting your life experiences with those whose life experience differ from your own.

Diversity magnifies the power of education by helping to liberate you from the tunnel vision of an ethnocentric and egocentric viewpoint.

In short, learning in a diverse community, makes you, an all-around better person.

 

Through his teachings, Dr. King showed us, “We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.”

 

It’s time for St. Christopher's to start leading by example.  It’s time for us to dispel the perception of That EXCLUSIVE private school on the WEST END.   

 

It is time for us to be the leading example of what other schools want to become.

 

We need to be the measuring stick on diversity so that it will prepare you all for broader educational experience, not only here, but also for the global and more diverse world that you will enter when you depart these grounds.  

 

Today, I challenge each and every one of you, to talk with, and more importantly, to listen to someone with whom you rarely interact.

 

In one brief encounter, you may discover that person who you thought was not like you, is just like you.

 

St. Christopher’s could be a melting pot of diversity and thought. The differences found in each and every one of you gives us the power to influence change!

 

We are a diverse community. We have the power to make a difference.

 

As Maya Angelou said, “In diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”  

 

We don’t have 4000-strong similar to the Air Force Academy but we have the potential to be 1000 strong united together here at St. Christopher's.