Best of the Week 2020-2021: Teaching to the Future

NEW SPEAKER SERIES FOCUSED ON CULTURAL HUMILITY CONNECTS STUDENTS WITH DIVERSE ALUMS

St. Ed's new speaker series, "In My Shoes" provides students with weekly opportunities to engage with diverse alumni, network, and practice cultural humility. "With everything changing due to COVID-19, and online platforms like Zoom becoming more and more popular, I felt like we could take advantage of this time to bring our community together," says Vice President of Diversity Mr. Knight. "Everything that's been happening in our world is creating a greater divide and I wanted to bring our St. Ed's community together to hear the stories and journey of some of our alumni. The more students are able to hear from and talk to alums who are like them and who've walked 'in their shoes,' the more connected they feel to our community."

The "In My Shoes" series kicked off this Monday night with Shaun Crawford, Class of 2015. Shaun shared his story about overcoming adversity and discussed what it took for him to go from being a St. Ed's athlete to a professional football player. "Students were very appreciative of Shaun taking his time to speak with them. They admire Shaun for his commitment to excellence, his faith and his love of St. Ed's," says Mr. Knight. "Some of the biggest takeaways from Shaun's message were about family, brotherhood, and faith. He stressed the importance of having people in your life who can encourage you and hold you accountable. St. Ed's was an important part of Shaun's life, preparing him for the University of Notre Dame and developing relationships that have stayed with him and served him well during some of the most challenging times in his life."

Throughout the month of October, "In My Shoes" will be hosting an alum speaker over Zoom every Monday night at 7:00 p.m. for students and members of the community to hear stories, understand differing perspectives, and learn more about cultural humility. "One of the tenets of cultural humility is listening and developing an appreciation for multiple perspectives," says Mr. Knight. "One of the reasons people tend to stay in their bubble or be bound by stereotypical thinking is due to hearing only one side of a story. The dangers of hearing only one perspective can lead to developing prejudices about those we don't understand. Our goal for the 'In My Shoes' series is to provide our community with the opportunity to hear more than one story to foster greater humility and appreciation for other diverse cultures that are not our own."