Behind every community gathering, workshop, and Circle Talk stands Groton’s Diversity & Inclusion committee. Focused on community building and fostering a sense of belonging, the D&I committee spearheads Groton’s mission statement of inspiring members “within a diverse, inclusive, and close-knit community.” As we reflect on the recent MLK Day, it is worth taking a look back at the history of D&I at Groton to understand just how far it has come.

Over a decade ago, the 2010 Strategic Plan outlined and established the school’s trajectory for the next ten years. The plan identified diversity and inclusion as a “pivotal goal.” Considering Groton’s historical background as a single-sex institution, the creators of the plan recognized the importance of making efforts to “ensure that the evolving educational landscape increasingly fosters a sense of belonging for all students,” said Dean of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Sravani Sen-Das.

The first step taken towards recognizing the D&I goal was establishing a faculty-trustee committee. The committee members were responsible for researching how similar educational institutions were approaching diversity and inclusion in their respective communities. They then came up with a strategic, Groton-specific vision statement and created goals and recommendations for diversity and inclusion work that could be done within the school. Ms. Sen-Das stated that these recommendations included “implementing programs and policies that would seamlessly integrate the principles of excellence, equity, diversity, and inclusion into every facet of the Groton School, encompassing the academic, residential, and extracurricular spheres of our campus.”

The D&I initiative further blossomed with Temba Maqubela’s appointment as headmaster in 2013. Mr. Maqubela did not hesitate to take up the responsibility and lead the initiative forward. Through the introduction of programs such as GRAIN and GRACE, Mr. Maqubela has successfully made Groton more accessible to many students and families.

Since 2010, the D&I committee has expanded from a committee led solely by adults to a group consisting of around fifty collective student prefects and board members. The student committee was established along the way in an effort to include the voices and perspectives of individuals within the community that could give first-hand insight based on their personal experiences. This greatly contributed to the committee’s ultimate goal, which is to make D&I an integral component of all aspects of life on the Circle, and, as Ms. Sen-Das said, “to reflect the ongoing trajectory of our institution.”

This year, the D&I committee began utilizing advisory meetings as a safe space to encourage open and honest conversations about potentially difficult topics such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and many others, according to D&I Prefect Daisy Adinkrah ’24. “It is important that the D&I initiative is a prevalent part of our campus because having these conversations is important,” Daisy said. “Understanding one another is the basis of the community aspect of Groton that we preach about, and must be prioritized.”

With each year, the D&I committee continues to create opportunities to exchange perspectives and engage in conversation. In the words of Ms. Sen-Das, “The D&I initiative is an integral part of our diverse community and it will continue to grow and evolve in response to the needs of the moment and the lived experience of all.”