Strive Fall 2025 Workshops Deepen Dialogue and Community
Concord Academy launched this year’s Strive workshops on September 19, reaffirming its commitment to fostering meaningful conversations about identity and culture.
Created by the Director of Community and Equity Alexis Dinkins and Assistant Director of Community and Equity Alex Holmes, Strive is a yearlong program that empowers students and adults to lead educational sessions. This year, the initiative aligns with the 2025–26 community theme: Building the We: Responsibility, Connection, and Growth.
The first session, “Wrapping Our Heads Around the Conflict(s) in the Middle East,” was presented in the Smith Room by Kim Frederick, who teaches Middle Eastern and U.S. history. In a question-and-answer format, she provided a space for students to ask about the Israel-Hamas war and its historical roots.
After collecting questions on notecards, she guided a discussion on why conflicts in this region have been so persistent, tracing issues from current events back to the post–World War I formation of modern Middle Eastern states. She encouraged students to read news broadly and with a critical eye, comparing how different sources cover the same events, to better understand the complex politics involved.
On October 24, the next round of workshops continued to center on inquisitive thinking. The East Asian Student Association (EASA) and South East Asian Student Society (SEAS) co-hosted “Spectrum” in the Great Room. Program leads Olivia Kim ’26, Joy Xu ’26, Ellie Rungrotkitiyot ’27, and Tal Richmond ’26 asked students interactive questions reflecting on their traditions and heritage, such as “Do cultural backgrounds shape the way we build relationships?” and “Have you ever felt like an outsider engaging with a different culture?”
That same day in the Ransome Room was the workshop “Queer History: Looking Beyond the 20th Century.” The program was presented by Davis Keeffe-Jones ’27 and featured his original historical research. Students examined primary sources from Ancient China, Greece, Rome, and Egypt through Victorian England and Medieval Europe, discussing how each era’s social and religious context shaped understandings of gender and sexuality.
On November 19, the final three workshops of the semester offered opportunities for hands-on learning. Levi Lasser ’28, Jeffrey Liu ’28, and the TARITA Foundation shared the history of General Tso’s chicken, a distinctly Chinese American dish. General Tso’s chicken was created by Taiwanese chef Peng Chang-kuei in the 1950s. It was featured in diplomatic dinners and later became sweeter to appeal to American palates when Chang-kuei moved to New York City and opened a Hunanese Chinese restaurant. After learning about how the meal came to be, students partook in a lively cooking competition in the SHAC.
In the Ransome Room, Umoja student leaders Jay Sanchez ’27 and Dami Demuren ’27 hosted “We’re Here: Black in Fashion.” The discussion highlighted influential trends and their historical roots, examining how fashion movements can shape identity and self-expression. The session concluded with a trivia quiz where students tested the knowledge they had learned.
Mia Rajagopal ’26 and Mikayla Osafo Grant ’26 of the Women of Color Alliance hosted “Unpacking the Feminism Movement” in the Great Room, opening with an overview of key eras in feminist history and spotlighting the contributions of women of color and LGBTQ+ people. A student panel discussed representation and identity at CA, followed by a group reading of Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” and a conversation about feminism’s continuing relevance today.
As the fall season of workshops came to a close, Strive continued to solidify its role as a cornerstone of learning at CA. By creating spaces for connection, the series strengthens the school’s commitment to fostering a community where every perspective can be shared and heard.
