By Joe Christy, Director of Student Engagement

This year, Beaver adapted the Race Card Project to spark conversation about race and identity among students, faculty, and staff. The original project – which was started in 2010 by NPR journalist Michele Norris – has individuals think about the concept of race and identity, and then express their thoughts, experiences, or observations in six words. At Beaver, our students in the Latino/Latina/Hispanic affinity group and the African American/Black affinity group participated in a similar exercise this past fall.

Most recently, working with The Hiatt Center, we expanded the project to the entire 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. The experiences behind their words covered race, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. We plan to host similar events for the 9th grade class as well as the Middle School after spring break.

Hear two examples from the project below.