Cameron Ward

I attended a progressive boarding school in southern Vermont

Cameron Ward

for three years. I believe at the time, a good 23% of my peers were international students. I felt that privilege was all around me. But it was a different kind of privilege; it was the privilege to get to experience other cultures and learn of their hardships, oppression and struggles. Every year for MLK day we would have workshops surrounding the idea of diversity and acceptance. We did privilege checking exercises, heard voices of those who in other circumstances might not feel safe, and developed ideas to better understand what privilege is and how to expose it. My snowy, secluded high school campus of 250 students and a multitude of faculty created a safe space for students of color. The ultimate, ironic conclusion is that every place should be a safe place. We have to do better, we can do better.