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The New Voices Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Team aims to create a school culture that promotes an inclusive, diverse, and equitable learning environment where all students feel that they belong and that their experiences and perspectives matter.
We aim to cultivate and integrate our students’ diverse identities into every area of our school culture, providing them with opportunity for creative expression and student voice.
“Multicultural Education, and all good teaching, is about transformation – Individual, collective, and institutional. Each of these levels is needed to foster student learning.”
Sonia Nieto
Celebrating Diversity at New Voices
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In celebration of our diverse community around us, this month we launch our 3rd annual student designed T-shirt contest, celebrating community and diversity at New Voices.
We had so many great submissions that we had to pick two!
days
hours minutes seconds
until
T-Shirt Fundraiser
We have 3 designs to choose from, the above 2, plus a classic New Voices Logo design.
Your support helps fund DEI initiatives like Paint Night, High School Intro Night, and GSA events.
Items will be printed and available early- to mid- January.
Important Dates:
| Dec 6th, 2024 | PA Family Movie Night |
| Dec 11, 2024 | D15 Student Equity Congress |
| Dec 16, 2024 | T-Shirt Fundraiser ends |
| Dec 17, 2024 | New Voices DEI Meeting |
| Dec 18, 2024 | D15 Adult Equity Congress |
| Jan 16th, 2025 | D15 City Harvest Event |
| Jan 17th, 2025 | Coat Drive ends |
Student Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Team
Students have the opportunity to participate in furthering the equity work being done at our school and within District 15 by participating in conversations about current events related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, leadership opportunities, as well as help plan community-wide diversity events.
Mr. Pang, an 8th grade math teacher, is the group advisor.
Our Student Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team for the 2024-2025 meets twice per month to plan school-wide activities. One of their current initiatives is a winter coat drive to support families in need. There is a drop off in the lobby of the school building where new and gently used coats can be donated. These coats will be delivered to the 72nd Precinct collection. The coat drive will be running through January 17th.
The team also works in tandem with the District 15 Youth Equity Congress as well as the New Voices adult equity team to celebrate diverse holidays and cultural events, build community, and provide an opportunity for student leadership to elevate the voice of all our students. Our student team is working on creating poems and using Adobe express to create presentations of their work as part of the District 15 youth equity congress.
For more information on how your child can join the student diversity, equity, and Inclusion team, speak to Mr Pang in room 311.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Team Updates
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Team is a collaboration between parents, teachers and administrators. We meet monthly to discuss, identify and implement change within our school community as it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
If you are interested in joining the New Voices DEI team, please email:
lkraus2@schools.nyc.gov or dpignataro@schools.nyc.gov
As mentioned last month, the New Voices DEI team is deepening our work through our humanities curriculum. We will be working with the humanities department to find opportunities for seamless incorporation into existing units of study.
In addition, our focus with the District Equity Congress is Culturally Responsive Sustaining Education, and we are sure this work will enhance the CRSE work we are doing in the building, helping us to refine our curriculum to include diverse backgrounds and topics.
Highlighting our Arts Teachers:
In the arts these past months, the DEI focus has been on building opportunities for all students to create impactful portfolio work for their high school applications. Here are some quick highlights of how our arts teachers go above and beyond in order to build equity into this process:
In Dance, Ms H.T. works with the dance majors to guide them through the process of learning the audition routines and creating their original one-minute solo. She records them so that they can be used to apply to high school Dance programs. Ms. H.T. also makes herself available to 8th grade students who are not Dance Majors, welcoming them to come by and schedule a time to meet with her.
In Visual Art, Ms Herrity holds her “Artists Unlimited” club after school where she works with 8th graders to build their portfolio, providing a place to work on their art pieces as well as fostering critique and reflection to advance their work.
In Chorus, Ms Kahn works with students to develop their audition materials, providing opportunities for practice, refinement and critique outside of class time.
Community Building
Bringing together Alumni, Current Students, Family and Staff
Alumni High School Nights
On the evening of November 7th, New Voices 8th graders and alumni gathered on Zoom for our annual Fall High School Night.
Eighth graders had the opportunity to ask questions about high school and the high school application process prior to the event, and our alumni were on hand to answer them.
Alumni from all types of high schools attended, giving our students a first-hand look at the diversity of NYC high schools and the types of programs offered. They received honest answers about making high school choices, what high school schedules are like, the workload, balancing work and extracurriculars, and other important aspects of high school.
In the spring, we will hold an event where students get to meet with current students at their future high schools, giving them an opportunity to ask specific questions and go into high school already knowing someone there.
All of our Alumni High School events are are student led discussions, facilitated by Ms. Pignataro and Ms. Kraus.
Quotes from our Fall 2024 High School Night
GSA News
The New Voices Gender and Sexuality Alliance has members across all three grades! GSA is a safe space for students to meet, support each other, and talk about school, life, and current events as well as participate in service-learning projects.
This month, the GSA continued to plan out our Dungeons and Dragons bulletin board. Students have been researching significant LGBTQ+ people in addition to books, movies, music, and other pop-culture topics. Once the research is done, students will finish the design of the board and begin the artwork that will be displayed. Stay tuned for the final product!
The GSA continues to be an integral part of our community, allowing students to socialize across grades, make new friends, and discover new interests in a safe space for all students.