Middle School Common Ground

August 2023

Dear Middle School Parents of Students of Color,

This is Gordon’s seventeenth 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 7th 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 19th. Common Ground will meet again on the evenings of November 2, February 8, April 4th and May 2. 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 two Association of Independent Schools of New England events that students are encouraged to attend: the Middle School Diversity Conference in November and the Middle School Students of Color Conference in February. Gordon pays for registration and provides transportation and supervision for these events. 

Information will be sent regarding these opportunities, and linked at this page, www.gordonschool.org/middleschoolcommonground, 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
mboyd@gordonschool.org