.jpg?width=200&height=140 "Untitled-January-26,-2022-10-15-(1).jpg")
This article appeared as “Connection Points” in the Spring 2022 issue of Independent School.At Hawken School (OH), there are two upper school campuses—Upper School and the Mastery School—with a significant difference in enrollment (550 students and 70 students, respectively) and unique institutional identities. Since the Mastery’s founding in fall 2020, there have been intentional efforts at both campuses—13 miles apart—to create a common culture of belonging and connection. There were cross-campus classes, collective school assemblies, sports teams, outdoor leadership and theater programs, affinity groups, school dances, and more. But as the pandemic limited these efforts, tensions began to brew, and in fall 2021, the misunderstandings had reached a tipping point.
Misconceptions about the social, socioeconomic, and educational identities of the high schools began to manifest during collective gatherings, when some students from both high schools made unwelcoming comments toward one another. When school leaders were alerted to the incidents, they gathered the students involved to unpack what was happening. During this time, more students began opening up about other situations they had personally experienced or heard about over the past two years. The directors, deans, and other appointed faculty members debriefed and concluded there was a problem with the cross-campus school culture.
We needed to acknowledge the tension, begin to address the escalating situation, and unite as one school. To do that, we’d need to keep student voice at the center of the solution. As such, our work led to students from both high schools participating in a leadership summit in which the students themselves would ultimately reimagine how cultural relationships are built at our school.
The Approach
There are many different academic schools of thought and ways to define school culture. Yerko Sepulveda, Spanish teacher, diversity council coordinator at the Upper School, and a cohort member of the Harvard University School Leaders of Color Organizational Development Collaborative, was introduced to an approach that offered Hawken comprehensive building blocks to analyze the problem. The components of school culture outlined by Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell, associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, include five core elements that shape school culture: fundamental beliefs and assumptions; shared values; norms; patterns and behaviors; and tangible evidence.School leaders have the power and potential to influence each component, Bridwell-Mitchell says. However, based on the context of the tension at our school in tandem with Hawken’s commitment to prepare students for the real world, Hawken leaders felt it was necessary for the students to take the lead. This was an opportunity for the students to address the tension, which inherently activates Hawken’s mission to prepare students to build character in a way that creates welcoming spaces for all.
Students tend to outnumber adults in most schools around the world. And while adults often talk about student agency and student-centered learning, if students are not included in the decision-making process, these ideals often romanticize the student’s voice. It was pivotal to center their voices, so in fall 2021, we invited 12 student leaders from affinity groups, our peer leadership program, and diversity council at both campuses to collectively unpack the why behind the tension and pursue collaborative work to improve the climate and culture using Bridwell-Mitchell’s school culture components as a framework.
The Process
To begin, the student leaders gathered for an afternoon of community-building activities designed to help them share the values, beliefs, and behaviors that defined their identities. Faculty leaders who facilitated the session presented students with Bridwell-Mitchell’s root cause analysis technique on school culture. They were asked to describe what a culture of joy, belonging, and trust looks, feels, and sounds like. After discussing the common themes, they talked about the tensions between the high schools and named examples of known perceived tensions. They organized the tensions, written on sticky notes, in a fashion that exemplified causes and correlations.Overall, the students agreed that school culture was at the root of the problem. “I think it is a fairly accurate diagnosis. There isn’t one harmonious culture/community between the campuses,” one participant said. Another said, “I think the diagnosis is OK but could be altered because it’s only these tensions due to lack of engagement,”—a sentiment that was echoed in multiple ways as the students got deeper in their discussions. While students did not mention the pandemic as a factor contributing to the lack of engagement, it did play a crucial part in limiting connections between the two high schools.
When the students grouped all the examples of tensions between both high schools by theme, we could identify some of the root causes of the tensions themselves, including:
- Tension arises when there’s a lack of knowledge about the other person/campus; for example, “It can be awkward/intimidating—there’s a whole other community that I know nothing about.”
- Tension increases when there’s a lack of opportunity to connect; “I’ve heard that having two campuses involved in activities makes it harder to plan/schedule—that causes frustration.”
- Tension is fueled by unwelcoming experiences; “I often get asked what am I doing here instead of ‘how are you?’ ”
- Tension is based on assumptions and misconceptions; “assumptions are made on both sides because we do not talk.”
- Tension will not disappear until we understand that although we are different, we have the same shared values as a school; “I feel like the two different campuses are perceived as two different schools.”
They’d leverage student voice and systems analysis to ultimately build a culture of joy, belonging, and trust between the high schools and ignite systemic change. It would be a space to engage in adaptive change: to understand the tension as multifaceted and not easy to define while recognizing the urgent need to involve multiple stakeholders to create solutions that take time to accept and implement.
The Main Event
In October 2021, the “Building Bridges” event was held at the Mastery School and included 116 students (46 from the Upper School and 70 from the Mastery School). This event included three separate sessions on joy, belonging, and trust that were designed and led by the students who attended the initial summit. The students were divided into three groups with a rotating schedule to participate in all sessions throughout the day. Student leaders designed each session with support from the school’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) office. Given the realities of the preexisting tensions, it was important to design sessions that primarily focused on relationship-building.After the retreat, tensions started to subside. At a Halloween celebration at the Upper School that immediately followed the event, students from both campuses were noticeably more amiable and even spent time together. The students plan to engage with their peers as well as school leadership to design future events. This may include additional Building Bridges events and opportunities to connect during social gatherings. In an effort to make these cultural changes sustainable, the DEIJ office is also working closely with teachers and administrators to nurture best practices for creating a culture of joy, belonging, and trust during instructional time.
The Takeaways
The opportunity for students to thoughtfully connect and learn from one another is critical in circumstances where misunderstandings live. Here are a few things we’ve learned along this journey to recreate a positive school culture.Be an observer. Pay attention to the verbal and nonverbal interactions, conversations, and assumptions among all constituents in your school community.
Keep student voice at the center. Ultimately, the improvements that we make related to school culture will always affect students. As such, include students in the decision-making processes for creating solutions with the support of adults who have vast institutional knowledge.
Remain grounded. When brainstorming, be intentional about consistently connecting solutions to the larger mission of your institution. Create checkpoints to ensure alignment to your mission and vision.
Organic connection is key. Students want—and need—unstructured time to connect, talk, laugh, and simply enjoy one another. In addition to offering intentional learning spaces for students, we must offer these opportunities as well.
Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. Through the multiple iterations of the planning process, continue gathering feedback and constructive guidance on how to improve the school community.
Developing school culture through collaboration, student empowerment, and agency is possible. We are committed to continue nurturing our family at Hawken as we grow, providing an inclusive space for all.
Read More
For more perspective on the importance of creating advancement efforts in which all community members feel they belong, check out these articles:
- “Black@: Using the Social Media Movement to Dig Deeper,” by Jan Abernathy, Independent School magazine, Winter 2021
- “Advancement and Development: A Black Professional’s Perspective,” by Marjorie P. Jean-Paul, Independent Ideas blog, September 2021