Middle School Common Ground

August 2024

Dear Middle School Parents of Students of Color,

This is Gordon’s eighteenth year offering Common Ground, an affinity group for students of color. This group provides a safe space to explore racial identity development through a variety of activities. Students reflect on who they are and how they live out their racial group membership. Many students have described Common Ground meetings as an essential part of their Gordon experience.

The structure for Middle School Common Ground includes lunch meetings once during each eight-day rotation, as well as evening meetings during POSOC gatherings and parent education evenings. Our first POSOC gathering of the year will be a social meet and greet at Gordon on September 10th from 5:30 - 6:30. Students are welcome to join for pizza, snacks and to connect with each other!

The first Common Ground evening is on October 1st. Common Ground will meet again on the evenings of November 7th, February 6th, April 10th and May 15th. There will be more information to come from our Middle School Common Ground Coordinator, Afiya Samuel. 

There are also other opportunities for students to be together during the year. We participate in Association of Independent Schools of New England events that students are encouraged to attend. One of these will be February 8th, in Weston, Massachusetts. Gordon pays for registration and provides transportation and supervision for these events. Information will be sent regarding these opportunities as it becomes available.

Please be in touch with me or with any of the facilitators if you have any questions.
 
Thank you,
Matthew Boyd
Middle School Director