By Ashiana Jivraj
On Monday January 30, 2017 the Harvard School of Dental Medicine community came together for a special tea to promote inclusion and belonging on campus. Dr. Josephine Kim, director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, organized the tea with the newly announced Diversity and Inclusion (D & I) student fellows.
Dr. Donoff greeted the community by urging them to come together to stand for peers from different backgrounds and religions. He then introduced Andrew Carranco, DMD17, a fourth year D & I fellow to share his experience at Harvard. He reminded us that, “for every difference we find between one another, there is something that unites us.” He called for students to share their feelings on post-it notes and to support one another in this trying time.
The Harvard community was once again reminded that we are one community, made stronger by the variety of voices represented. The colorful post-its on the walls represented the variety of colors, backgrounds, ethnicities, races, and religions—all of whom are a part of our greater school. After the formalities were over, members of the HSDM community were encouraged to write notes of support to post on the wall. These notes remained on the wall for two weeks to remind people about the power of community.
HSDM’s Diversity and Inclusion student fellows (from left to right with Dean Donoff) are: Leigh Yarborough, DMD18; Ashiana Jivraj, DMD19; Christina Cho, DMD19; Chloe Wong, DMD18; Jenay Davis, DMD18; Andrew Carranco, DMD17; Mindy Truong, DMD19 and Vicky Herrera, DMD19.
Watch a video (by Chloe Wong) from the event.
