Welcome Back, Friends!

Friends, 

My name is Camille Simone Edwards, and I am the Director of Diversity, Equity, + Inclusion at Friends Academy. Welcome to our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office blog.

Here, in this digital space, I commit to sharing my voice on things related to our community from a diversity, equity, and inclusion perspective. I want to talk about what we are learning and living; what we hope & wish; what growth we can see; what opportunities lie ahead. My goal is to create the space needed for people to peer through a window into our world here at Friends Academy.

You can also read more about our journey via our regular Instagram posts that will be devoted to mission-aligned, values-centered updates. Our very first post will be reflective of our two-year professional development training experience with the Neuroleadership Institute as a part of our annual requirement for all faculty and staff colleagues to engage in anti-bias training. As a community of adult colleagues we are completing a program dedicated to healthier decision-making and another dedicated to inclusion practices across our community.

I want to bring our DEI efforts, initiatives, and programs in this community in closer proximity to any friend who wants to learn more about who we are and where we are in our learning journey as a school. Every school’s journey is unique to them, and I look forward to documenting what I am experiencing along the way. I am grateful to have you take this journey with me!

As a Quaker, faith-based school, our work will always lie in ensuring that every one of our community members experiences a true sense of belonging. It is crucial that every single life who makes up our community feels seen, heard, known, and valued for who they are; their inner light. What a meaningful and engaging charge to take up as a school.

To every friend reading this, welcome. Please know that your relationship to our community matters – no matter what your connection to Friends Academy is. Thank you for reading, and my greatest wish is that if you read something here that resonates with you most beautifully, that you might pass it onto a friend so we can create and sustain dialogue across our school community.

– Director of DEI, Camille S. Edwards