Learning From One Another: Inside Brewster’s Equity Week
By Kara McDuffee
Miller Lowry ’27 handed out whiteboards and markers to the participants gathered in Faith Theater for his workshop on neurodiversity. “I want you to write what I say on your board with your non-dominant hand,” he instructed. Then he quickly read several sentences without repeating them. As many students and faculty struggled to keep up, Miller pointed to the purpose of the exercise: for some learners, it can be just as challenging to keep pace in class without any accommodations.
Miller’s window into a neurodivergent thinker was just one of many perspective-taking moments during Equity Week. With four All-School speakers and two days of workshops built into the academic schedule, the Brewster community committed to diving deep into awareness, understanding, and belonging.
“Equity Week at Brewster infused the entire community with tremendous energy, engagement, and a renewed sense of connectedness,” Chris Brown, Dean of Equity and Belonging, explained. “Through powerful student and adult-led workshops, participants were able to engage in meaningful dialogue, learn from one another, and dive deeper into conversations that strengthened understanding and empathy across differences.”
For two days, students and faculty offered fourteen sessions that invited the community to think more deeply about equity. Topics ranged from the international student experience to feminism, LGBTQI+ allyship to antisemitism, and third culture identities to food restrictive disorders. In one session, students unpacked the history and current challenges of democracy and voting rights, while in another, participants learned salsa and bachata alongside the cultures that shaped each style.
All-School gatherings added historical and global perspective. Civil rights activist Janice Kelsey shared her experience as a 16-year-old in 1963 Birmingham, discovering injustice and marching for equality. “I felt I was mistreated, and I wanted to do something about it,” she said, her voice carrying the weight of conviction earned over sixty years. Later in the week, neurodiversity advocate Lydia Pinto spoke at both Faculty Meeting and All-School, emphasizing that there is no single normal way for a brain to work and that neurodiversity is a natural, powerful form of diversity. To close the week, the community heard from New Hampshire-based humanitarian Alan Himmer, President of the Ukraine Crisis Aid Group, who shared what he has seen in his work and trips to war-torn Ukraine.
Dean Brown worked to bring in these speakers, but he placed equal value on the voices within Brewster. “I was so impressed with the level of participation and respect shown from workshop attendees,” he said. “These shared experiences fostered not just awareness, but a genuine sense of belonging, helping build a community grounded in respect, responsibility, and mutual growth.”
Equity Week also gave students the chance to step forward and share what mattered to them. Harper Dolce ’26 drew from her work with Brewster’s Morgan Message club, which focuses on reducing the stigma around mental health for athletes, to lead a workshop for more than one hundred student-athletes. “Being able to put it out there to athletes and say that it is okay not to be okay, and to raise awareness about mental health for a large group of people, felt really important,” Harper shared. “It felt really good to hear people say afterward, ‘That was great. That needed to be talked about.’”
Harper also appreciated the variety of workshops and speakers. “Having so many options gave people a lot of topics they could choose from and relate to,” she reflected.
The best part of Equity Week is the lasting impact it will have. Not only did conversations continue in classrooms, dorm lounges, and the dining hall, but the takeaways will extend far beyond this week.
“As we move forward, we are excited to continue growing this program,” Dean Brown said. “We’ll continue to build on our collective cultural competence and awareness to create an even more connected and inclusive Brewster community.”
