June 21-23, Paideia students and faculty attended the fourth annual Tearing Down the Walls conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Tearing Down the Walls is a two-day race and leadership conference for independent school students in the Southeast intended to provide students from diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds with the opportunity to become leaders and bridge builders in race relations. Tearing Down the Walls’ vision is to empower students to return home prepared to lead.
This year, Paideia sent four teachers and six students to the conference. The conference included active sessions on allyship, identity development, bias reduction, the role of students in effective change and techniques to support other students at different levels of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) engagement. The conference was keynoted by world-renowned speaker and author Dr. Joy DeGruy and hosted other powerful and important speakers from the Southeast. Paideia’s Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Oman Frame led a student workshop called “The American Dream: Walking in Others’ Shoes.” Students were also fortunate enough to hear from Paideia alum Dr. Danielle Stewart ’96 who presented on “Artivism,” the use of art in activism.
