Diversity

Cultural Night Celebration

Parents and students enjoyed food, dancing, and fun at Community Night during Book Fair. The festival of international cultural displays, music, performances, and foods represented the many cultures that comprise our Potomac School community. We had displays and food from places as diverse as India, Pakistan, Haiti, Philippines, China, Korea, Kenya, Trinidad/Tobago, Panama, Ireland, Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. We also had religious displays for the Bahai and Jewish faiths.

This year, in addition to displays and food, several of our Korean families created a dance ensemble as well as a traditional Korean wedding. Mr. Jones also contributed with a collection of international children’s literature.

Guiding Principles

Educating the whole child demands as wide a vision as possible of not only the present, but, crucially, of the future. Diversity, in all of its multiplicity, is a priority at The Potomac School because we believe that we are strengthened intellectually and morally when many different voices, viewpoints, and backgrounds are present. In every aspect of school life, diversity informs and engages us in the serious work of preparing leaders for a complex and global world.

Today, we view diversity in a much wider sense. It includes not just race, but also ethnicity, spiritual beliefs, sexual orientation, nationality, age, health, intellectual and physical ability, and cultural perspective. We truly believe that this expanded notion of diversity enlivens our education program by providing a wider range of opportunities in which to explore and learn about the complex world in which we live.

Being respectful of and valuing the many facets of diversity is our goal for our students. The strong, principled, and creative leadership we expect our students to model for each other is possible only in a climate that encourages each one to challenge assumptions. In every classroom, as well as during weekly assemblies, community service opportunities, and special events, students consider a variety of ways to solve problems, reflect on different points of view, and immerse themselves in context.

We hope that our diversity page will demonstrate some of the many facets of diversity being celebrated everyday here at The Potomac School.

Tiffany L. Bridgewater
Director of Diversity Development
& Community Outreach
703-749-6312

In The Gallery

Faces of Potomac

In the News

Potomac Distinguished Speaker Series Presents "Come Walk in My Shoes"

In celebration of the Martin Luther King holiday, Potomac welcomes filmmaker, writer, and director Robin Smith, who will screen her new documentary Come Walk in My Shoes to the Upper School on January 16, at 9:45 am in the Langstaff Auditorium. Featuring Georgia Congressman John R. Lewis leading his Congressional colleagues to the sacred sites of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama, the film brings Lewis' personal recollections to life through historic footage and music.

Congressman Lewis, the son of a sharecropper, was 18 when he first met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He lived his deep conviction that young people can bring about change peacefully.

"If they had given medals in the civil rights struggle, he would have had a chestful for courage shown and injuries suffered. He was arrested more than 40 times, 17 in Nashville alone, during the lunchroom sit-ins. He was beaten in Montgomery and thrown into a notorious Mississippi state prison. When his contemporaries talked about Lewis, they always began with testimonials to his fearlessness.” – Tom Brokaw

Come Walk in My Shoes has been an official selection in eight film festivals including the Charlotte Film Festival, where it won the Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary, and the Columbus Film Festival, where it received the Chris Statuette for Best in Humanities. Robin Smith, the film's producer, writer, and director, is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker with 30 years of experience. She will show clips from the film and discuss this historic time with the Potomac community.

View All News