Academy Girls Attended The Fall Student Diversity Leadership Conference This Past Weekend

On Nov. 10, 13 Academy students attended the Fall Student Diversity Leadership Conference at Tampa Preparatory School. Many Tampa Bay high schools attended this event, including, Tampa Prep, Academy, Carrollwood Day School, Monte Verde Academy, and more. Caroline Lamoureux (‘20) and Chanita Belcher (‘19) led a 25-student discussion group at the event. The teachers who attended the conference with the 13 students were very proud of the girls; they were being super engaged and leading in their discussions. The teachers even learned a few things in attending the leadership conference.

Belcher said, “Basically what we did was get split into infinity groups based on our races. There are many different infinity groups we usually get based off of, but they wanted to focus on a race this time. Within those infinity groups, we talked about what its like to be at a predominantly white institution and how we can help change the world.”

Lamoureux stated, “We split up into different groups based on your race and your ethnicity. I was one of the leaders for the white infinity group. We just discussed through the lens of a certain race, like different racial issues, different societal issues, and different impactful events that people experienced.”

The girls had a lot of fun at this conference and enjoyed the experience. Many of them got to listen to influential speakers and make connections with students from other schools. They learned more about their own ethnicity and other people’s ethnicity.