Social Studies teacher Dion Crushon taught the Identities and Representations elective first semester. This elective merges previous social studies electives: Class and Race in the U.S, Gender Studies and SPARC (School Participatory Action Research Coalition). The goal of the elective is to take a deeper dive into the multiple identities that make up our community. In this elective the students participated in the SPARC partner program. SPARC is a program through the University of Pennsylvania which allows students to analyze the school’s climate through the lens of diversity, equality and inclusion through a variety of social science qualitative research projects. The SPARC survey was sent out to the whole upper school on Nov. 14. The survey consisted of questions around topics that pertained to the school. The topics were, “Environmental Sustainability, Discussion of Sensitive topics, Religious Holidays Support & Representation, Curriculum & Content in World Literature/World History (9th grade), and Student Spaces, Belonging and Mental Health, The findings from these projects were presented to the Head of School Dr. Anne Stavney as well as other administrators. In these presentations students proposed new initiatives and programs for the school:  Spaces and Study Spaces (Kristian Baker ‘25, Zack Gartner ‘25, Maya Omar ‘24, Miguel Quinetro ‘25), Discussion of Sensitive Topics (Ali Hecker ‘24, Mara Noel ‘24, Grayson Okoronkwo ‘24,  Eleanor Loew ‘24, Alex Won ‘24).