The 2025 BAA Summit included a full weekend of activities, including a production of Alvin Ailey’s signature masterpiece, Revelations, and a thought-provoking and galvanizing panel discussion.

There may not have been a more timely and meaningful way to kick off the 2025 Black Alumni Alliance (BAA) Summit than by inviting the group—Black alums and alumni parents, parents of Black students, current Black students, and Sidwell staff members—to attend a Kennedy Center production of Revelations, Alvin Ailey’s signature masterpiece that “fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul using African-American spirituals and song-sermons.”

The production of Ailey’s iconic modern dance definitely set the tone for the weekend, which among various events, meals, and together time included a service project making toiletry bags for the organization SOME (So Others Might Eat), which for many brought back fond memories of service projects from their time at Sidwell Friends. Several attendees agreed that it was inspiring to learn about Sidwell's continued commitment to serving within our local, national, and global communities and about the range of programs students can now participate in that affect meaningful change.

The event that seemed to have the biggest impact on the group, however, was Saturday afternoon’s panel discussion titled, “Belonging: Owning and Reclaiming Space.” The panel session was an intentional conversation not just about belonging, but also the various ways that alumni can support each other, the institution, and find moments of joy and resistance in troubling times.

One of the panelists, Treva Lindsey ‘00, agreed. She said she prepared for a conversation that would touch on Sidwell's past, present, and future as it pertains to Black students. “What occurred, however, was far more rewarding as we dug into our formative experiences at Sidwell and did not shy away from talking about pain, frustration, or disappointment.” she says. The discussion reaffirmed the group’s commitment to support and listen to the varying constituencies of Black people connected to Sidwell.

Apparently, the conversation has not abated.

According to Rashida Wilson Prioleau ’92, BAA Advisory Council vice clerk, the panelists have been energized since the weekend summit, brainstorming ideas about how BAA can have a larger impact on the community of Black students, alumni, and parents. For example, one current student and one young alum said that they thought having more frequent, informal, and fluid engagement between current students and alumni through something like a mentorship program would help them foster and expand relationships. 

For some alumni who are now current parents, their focus is on helping shape their children’s experience at the School.

Attending the BAA Summit for the first time this year, Robynn Scott-Clayton Nichols ’00, parent of two young Sidwell students and a Parents of Black Students volunteer, brought her 3rd grade daughter, Ruby, to Saturday’s service activity and lunch. “Being among people she knew and didn’t as well as people of all ages and generations, Ruby definitely absorbed the sense of community and celebration,” says Nichols. “As a current parent, I hope we can cull ideas from all of these Sidwell generations to figure out how to support our current students in ways that maybe we have not before.”

For BAA Advisory Council Clerk Akinyi Sagoe-Moses ’11, the weekend, which she spearheaded, was equal parts emotional, equal parts inspiring. She said that the theme of belonging was carefully and intentionally chosen. “Many schools like Sidwell weren’t originally designed with people of color in mind, and yes, some alumni do remember feeling excluded,” she says. Through the richly dynamic and multi-generational panel conversation, the group was able to discuss how Sidwell can and should be a place where everyone feels unequivocal belonging. For Black students—all students—it’s important to see the possibility of who they might become reflected in the faces of people who look like them and who are succeeding in the world.

Before and after events and during shared meals with the group, Sagoe-Moses said she felt that there was a deep commitment and knowledge exchange in the group for the Sidwell Black community to be “friends” in all senses of the word. “There seemed to be a genuine affirmation of Quaker values and education,” she says. “The sense of belonging that Quakerism—and Sidwell—instills means that no one should feel inferior, outside, unaffirmed. For many, the BAA Summit weekend felt like a truly safe space to share and to be seen, heard, and valued.”