To Belong is to Flourish
Episcopal’s mission is to prepare young people with the intellectual and moral courage to act with integrity and honor, stand up for what is right, demonstrate empathy and respect, lead with humility and kindness, and approach the world with curiosity and an open mind that values diverse perspectives.
A strong community, built in no small part on equitable access to its richness, is central to accomplishing this mission through a dynamic that is at once instructive and liberating: Students learn through the experience of thriving alongside one another, forging strength from their range of vantage points and backgrounds to become their best selves, poised for leadership.
The Office of Community & Equity supports the School’s mission by nurturing a vibrant, diverse learning environment premised on the dignity and respect made possible through mutual appreciation and self-discovery.
Working closely with individual students and on School-wide initiatives, the Office facilitates learning by bringing people together through understanding, positivity, focus on commonalities, and celebration of differences. Through these efforts, the School lives its belief that when a culture of belonging is foundational, and when students gain the skill to build it, we give them their best opportunity to pursue lives of ethical leadership and service with intellectual and moral courage.
The Office of Community & Equity supports the School’s mission by nurturing a vibrant, diverse learning environment premised on the dignity and respect made possible through mutual appreciation and self-discovery. |
The work of the Office of Community & Equity starts with the School's mission:
Guided by its founding principles of honor, academic distinction, spiritual growth, and community, Episcopal High School prepares young people with the intellectual and moral courage to pursue lives of ethical leadership and service as citizens of an increasingly connected world.
When we talk about community, we mean one that builds its strength dynamically: students affirm, understand, and appreciate who they are as individuals; they forge bonds with one another through common values; they temper those bonds via their range of vantage points and backgrounds. Along this path, Episcopal students learn from experience — missteps and success alike — growing to become poised for courageous action suited to who they are. The Office of Community & Equity supports the dynamic growth of strong community by nurturing a vibrant, diverse learning environment characterized by a sense of belonging. Students' sense of belonging comes from dignity and respect for every person, regular practice of our common values, celebration of our wide range of cultures, and steady growth. We achieve it with programming that encourages curiosity, understanding, affirmation, and collaboration, with individual support for students, and with professional development that enables our adults to model the qualities we seek to grow in our students.
| Alliance of Asian Cultures & Experiences (AACE) |
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| The Alliance of Asian Cultures & Experiences (AACE) seeks to include the EHS community in the exploration of pan-Asian viewpoints in order to broaden the collective horizon. Its mission is to raise awareness on what it means to be part of the Asian community, to develop an understanding of Asian cultures and traditions, to create a safe environment where all voices are heard and welcomed, and to respect, acknowledge, and celebrate differences. |
| Black Student Alliance (BSA) |
| Black Student Alliance (BSA) is a student-led organization dedicated to celebrating and including all in of the rich cultures of the African, African-American, and Black Diaspora at Episcopal High School. By initiating conversations among students, hosting organized events, and showcasing cultural variation, we aim to strengthen Episcopal's community by making it an inclusive and open space not just for Black students, but for all. A focus of the group is educating the School through authentic experiences, both on and off campus, and exploring the significance of and supporting the Black experience at Episcopal. |
| Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA) |
| The Episcopal High School Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA) provides a safe forum for discussion and reflection on issues surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity. Our mission is to work toward a more accepting environment for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, through education, support, social action, and advocacy. By developing programming to elevate the experiences of students who navigate challenges related to sexual orientation or gender identity, we expand the strength of our community and offer vital support to individual students. |
| Mi Gente |
| Latin American and Hispanic cultures are prevalent throughout much of the globe, yet unfamiliar to many in the United States, especially in independent schools. Mi Gente — Spanish for "my people" — seek to bring not just familiarity with but also active appreciation for the rich tapestry of Latin American and Hispanic cultures to Episcopal, thus strengthening our community by enriching our students. In futherance of this goal, Mi Gente, reach out and interactively raise awareness by facilitating events that highlight, explore, and celebrate our culture, creating a more collaborative and inclusive Episcopal High School community with a real sense of belonging. |
| O.C.E. Student Liaisons (a.k.a. "Club O.C.E.") |
| OCE Student Liaisons are students who are vitally interested in the work of building and strengthening a community marked by fellowship and friendship across the range of identities here at Episcopal, and across the variety of cultures to which those identities give rise. This work is centered on people, and on fostering positive relationships among them. As such, OCE Student Liaisons operate as an important link between the School's administration and the student body, and these students work to further the OCE's mission of giving every student a sense of belonging. |
| STEP Program |
| Designed to support newly admitted students transitioning to the EHS community, STEP (Supporting Transitions at Episcopal) offers a pre-orientation followed by ongoing programming throughout the school year. The program provides early connection to essential academic and social resources, proving especially valuable for students new to independent or residential school settings. Contact STEP@episcopalhighschool.org for further details. |
| Student Clubs |
| The OCE supports a range of student clubs — we sometimes call them "culture clubs" — that celebrate and share culture, wisdom, and experiences from across the rich mosaic of our student body. With faculty members providing support for logistics, securing resources, and offering mentorship, the students of these groups are responsible for generating ideas, coming up with plans, and executing. Participation in these clubs, including leadership, is open to all students. |
| Affinity Gatherings |
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At Episcopal, our affinity gatherings are notably distinct from student organizations or clubs. Sometimes called "affinity space," these are not physically designated spots on campus, but are get-togethers wherein students can identify, discuss, and seek support regarding the ways that social identity or life-experience might have an impact on their lives, their perceptions, how they are perceived, and their community. The aim is to enable and encourage every student to participate in the School community in full. To that end, these gatherings provide a safe place for students to explore the component parts of who they are because the gatherings offer a way for students to affirm and strengthen their sense of themselves. With confidence in themselves, students participate more fully in the community, enriching it, rather than the adolescent default of feeling that they must choose between being themselves and "fitting in." We support affinity gatherings based on expressed student interest, taking care to let students know that this kind of support is available to all students, no matter who they are or how they identify. Under this approach, we support and have supported gatherings based on social identities of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and international status, as well for students who have lost a member of their immediate family. |
Marking 50 Years of Integration
This history of Episcopal’s integration, filmed and produced by Luke David ’93, debuted on November 9, 2018, as part of Episcopal’s commemoration of the School’s integration in 1968.
Read about how EHS commemorated 50 years of integration in 2018
