For the past seven years, Cary Academy, located in Cary, NC, has been living out the school’s values of respect, integrity, and compassion through their “Dialogue Across Difference” initiative. Nearly 790 students in middle and upper school participate in the student-led program, which promotes respectful and impactful dialogue and serves as a model for other schools on how to bridge divides and cultivate meaningful conversations.
Building Relationships Through Dialogue
In describing the culture of Cary Academy, Head of School Michael Ehrhardt shares, “At the core of who we are as a learning community is [our] humanity; it’s about seeing each other and acknowledging each other. We know that when we have a strong community and when we have compassion, we open our minds and our hearts for learning and risk-taking and having the kind of school that we really want Cary Academy to be.”
To ensure that all voices are heard with respect and compassion, the school implemented their Dialogue Across Difference initiative in partnership with Essential Partners. It’s a Reflective Structured Dialogue (RSD) program – a research-based, flexible, scalable framework for systemic change that, through dialogue, equips students to build relationships across differences in order to address challenges.
At Cary Academy, special sessions are hosted throughout the school year, with students selecting the discussion topics and leading the structured dialogues. These conversations have taken place among groups of upper school students, middle school students, CA parents, and community members.
CA is one of the few Essential Partner schools that employs students as facilitators. In the past, discussion topics have ranged from mental health to belonging to elections.
Gaining Buy-In When Introducing Dialogue
According to Danielle Johnson-Webb, the school’s director of equity and community engagement, the Dialogue Across Differences program is managed through the school’s Center for Community Engagement Programs, alongside the school’s logistics coordinator and student leaders.
“When we first implemented the program, our faculty and staff were the facilitators,” shares Johnson-Webb. “We quickly received feedback from our students that they felt they would be more open if their peers led the work.” Since that change, the school has found it to be a smooth transition to implement the program for their community.
After approximately a one-year timeline to launch the program, Dialogue Across Differences took three years to become ingrained within the normal school routine. Now, seven years in, Johnson-Webb describes the dialogues as having been well received by the community: “We are very intentional about how we roll things out and how we give students choice of topics in a mandatory framework. This intentionally has helped propel the program further.”
Cary Academy has big plans for the 2024-2025 school year, not only continuing these valuable discussions among their CA students, faculty, and parents, but also facilitating dialogues with other local middle schools. The benefits are worth the effort. Students learn empathy, patience, and courage through active listening. The school shapes students into young people who take time for reflection and who actively listen to others, resulting in citizens who are prepared to face the dualities and polarities of society.
Putting What’s Possible Into Practice
For schools interested in implementing a Reflective Structured Dialogue program, Cary Academy offers sage advice.
Intrigued? Inspired? Want to learn more? Join us at the 2024 SAIS Annual Conference, where Cary Academy Head of School Dr. Michael Ehrhardt and Director of Equity and Community Engagement Danielle Johnson-Webb will present a breakout session to share more about the implementation of the Dialogue Across Difference initiative at Cary Academy.
