Remarks for MVS Diversity Day Celebration: 17 January 2012

MVS Diversity Day Celebration

Tuesday, 17 January 2012

It is always exciting to have us all together, students, teachers, and parents of The Miami Valley School.  Today is really important because in celebrating diversity, we focus on what many of us take for granted, especially outside of this special place we all know as MVS.

Diversity is a complicated word.  Away from MVS, diversity often carries the power to separate and divide, to point out differences between people.  At MVS, diversity defines our school community, lends focus to our excellence, and illustrates the shared connections between the Early Childhood, Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools.

I want to try a little experiment, and I need everyone’s help.  I am going to ask you to raise your hands in response to a couple of questions.

First, let’s talk about something quite different from MVS: football. Raise your hand if you are fan of Bengals. OK, now raise your hand if you are a Browns fan?  How about a fan of THE Ohio State Buckeyes?  As I suspected.

For a topic outside of MVS, even if we root for different teams, football has shared rules and goals, which unite players and fans in a common focus.

Now let’s look at a more familiar topic: where we are, here in the Lane Gymnasium.  Raise your hand if you have had PE class with Coach Carrillo here in the Lane Gym?  Who has played volleyball here on this court?  How about playing Basketball on the parquet floor?

And a final question: who has cheered from the stands for an MVS team?  Very impressive!

We have been in this gym for a variety of different athletic purposes: to practice, to compete, and to support and cheer, all for MVS.  Because this is MVS, today we can transform this space into a celebration of diversity, harnessing the same energy that defines MVS spirit.

In taking time to be together this morning, here in the Lane Gym, we are remembering the legacy of Dr. King.  We need to acknowledge that the strengths that unite us as a school, our diversity, are not always easy to translate away from MVS.  That’s what makes MVS such a special place.

In Dr. King’s dream, parts of which you will hear in a moment, words like hope, faith, justice, and freedom, are complicated words, like diversity.  To become real, they require continuous effort, shared mission and common goals, and a focused commitment towards excellence.

This morning at MVS, we affirm that Dr King’s dream is still alive, especially here in the Lane Gym, requiring our attention, our commitment to keep it moving forward.  As a school community, we must remember the essential work and future challenges ahead that we all share,

in being:

Young People of Promise,

Self-Sustaining Learners,

and Compassionate Global Citizens.

Thank you.

Samuel Wagner, V

Head of Upper School