We will inspire our students to examine what defines leadership based on our Quaker values, so that they can become ethical leaders who care about the greater good.

How do we define leadership in the 21st century?

How do we find our own inner teacher to help us live accordingly with others?

When do speaking up, listening, and following matter the most, as individuals or as a community?

We at Sidwell Friends choose to foster a welcoming community and a strong culture of belonging. We act in accordance with our commitment to build a more peaceful, just, and democratic society. We choose to examine and question conventional assumptions about what constitutes leadership. We listen to hear how truths reveal themselves in moments of silent reflection. Through this process of revelation, we begin to understand leadership through our actions, ideas, and relationships. We seek to act with integrity, whether through small acts or big ideas, in accordance with what we discern as deeper truths about ourselves and our common humanity. We teach each other to find goodness in every person and to understand that diverse voices deepen the intellectual and cultural lives of the School.

We will:

• Establish a center for ethical leadership, inquiry, and action, a signature program to help faculty and students frame and explore ethics in the Quaker tradition; facilitate conversations that connect academic study to social challenges and opportunities; and encourage action through new programs that identify leadership challenges, foster inclusive relationships, and promote just solutions.
• Partner with universities and institutes for new ways to examine ethical leadership.
• Create sustained curricular and co-curricular initiatives (inter- and intra-divisional) that honor a multiplicity of voices, inspire intellectual inquiry, and deepen empathy.
• Work with long-standing student organizations and clubs dedicated to social justice, service learning, and responsible economic development, as well as community organizations that provide students opportunities to work for the common good, and a program that builds on the success of the Anindya Dehejia ‘78 Fellows Internship Program.
• Design and create meaningful parent and alumni engagement and inform them of the School’s programs, promote open conversation and exchange, and expand the understanding of the School’s Quaker heritage.