Nineteen years ago, the Academy held its first Diversity Day in order to promote tolerance and understanding in light of a series of hateful and racist comments among the student body.  It was meant to be a day to acknowledge our differences and learn about other cultures and backgrounds.  When it was first created many students stayed home because either they or ,their parents did not approve of its message. Now, however, the event is well-attended and students look forward to it as both a day of celebration and an important Academy tradition.  For years, the school has not only grown to encompass a more diverse student body but also has become more tolerant.

As the school has changed, however, Diversity Day no longer meets its original goals. It is now a day where students are shuffled through a hodgepodge of unorganized and sometimes pointless workshops, forced to sit through an hour of club powerpoints and world dance and then left to meander through a series of student booths, stopping only to look at the ones that offer free food. Diversity Day is so chaotic and mismatched that all students seem to take away from it is music, superhero costumes and a stomach full of crêpes and fry bread. In order to communicate a meaningful message, the school needs to revamp Diversity Day and move it away from the ethnic free-for-all it has become.

The goal of Diversity Day has become outdated. Today, any problems related to diversity at the Academy are caused not by intolerance, but rather by ignorance. Currently, too much of the information it presents is geared towards world traditions and ethnic customs rather than delving into truly controversial issues. For example, every year students visit the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) booth and take rainbow sticker and ribbons, but continue to use the phrase “that’s so gay” in their everyday lives. The new goal of Diversity Day should be to explore the gray areas that exist at the school, rather than the usual topics that are by now common knowledge.

To accomplish this, the school needs to have a more direct message in mind when planning Diversity Day, focusing and simplifying the day around that message. The main problem with Diversity Day is that there is too much going on and many of the activities are only loosely associated with diversity. For example, this year the ninth graders attended sustainability workshops which not only had nearly nothing to do with diversity but also repeated projects that many students have performed frequently.  Because Diversity Day has no clear message, Academy students are beginning to become apathetic towards what diversity really is.

Even though there was a theme this year (“What’s your story? How will you use your diversity to change the world?”), it was too broad and too vague to structure the entire day around. The only activities that related to this theme were the poster and essay contests. By now, we know that Academy students are much more diverse, tolerant and accepting than they were 19 years ago. Therefore, Diversity Day needs to become an opportunity to show students what they can do with that. Even though they cannot be expected to instantly change the world, specific themes such as political activism, civil rights in other countries or non-profit work could act as a platform for teaching students how to promote tolerance and support others, while broadening their definition of diversity.

Finally, in order to make Diversity Day less chaotic, more time should be allotted to plan it with more student input. Years ago, planning for Diversity Day started in late August, with upwards of 20 students participating. This year, planning started around January and only six students had input in what would take place. More student input would allow Diversity Day to be centered around a message that would be meaningful to the rest of the school, while planning further in advance would allow the school to find activities that fit that message.

Diversity Day will not sustain itself if it continues to be based on such a shallow overview of what it means to be diverse.  Now, it seems as though the only reason students enjoy it is because they do not have to attend class. It is, however, an important Academy tradition. If we allow Diversity Day to lose its meaning we also lose a part of what makes the Academy unique.