For the last two years, Gaynor’s community theme has been, “Be together, not the same.” Inspired by the tagline of an Android campaign, the theme exemplified Gaynor’s close-knit community. For the 2018-2019 academic year, it was decided to build on the strength and learning opportunities that came with “Be together, not the same,” and take it a step further.
With the new theme, “Choose Courageous Conversations,” the goal is to highlight the difficult conversations we all need to have as we work toward supporting and celebrating each individual in our community. Diversity coordinator Sue Sortino said, “The building blocks of a strong, diverse, and inclusive community include a willingness to have Courageous Conversations, and the strength to be comfortable with having them. This is a skill that can be used for lifetime and is something we believe is extremely important for our students, faculty, and staff to have.”
Check out this brief video (created by Ms. Book and Ms. Felt) that includes faculty and staff discussing what “Choose Courageous Conversations” means to them and how it will be important for the entire community throughout the year.