As stated in Winsor’s Principles of Diversity, “The school affirms, teaches, and values a belief in the dignity and humanity of every person and a commitment to understanding individual and group differences.” Winsor’s affinity groups support this important principle. Affinity groups can be an important step toward inclusion in that the group allows students who might otherwise suppress their identities to feel proud and confident; the affinity group provides a platform from which students who are culturally different from the majority can confidently be themselves and not feel pressured to conform. (It is important to note that there are students at Winsor who are culturally different from the majority and feel joy, comfort and pride without an affinity group.) AsIAm, the First Generation Experience, MOSAIC, SASA, SISTERS, SOMOS, MOSAIC, and Ummah provide an opportunity for those families and students who want it to connect positively to their own ethnic/cultural identity.
Building authentic relationships with people from all backgrounds is critically important at Winsor. Winsor students live and learn in mixed groups for the vast majority of their time at school each day; most affinity groups meeting during a 35-minute affinity group meeting each rotation during lunch (and on selected reading periods in the Lower School) helps some girls feel more connected, visible, and included. No acronym or term is a perfect description of people’s wonderful and complex ethnic and cultural identities.
