Members of Algonquin Cultural Enrichment (ACE) club, along with two student-athletes, attended and presented at the 8th Annual MIAA/MSAA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Summit at the College of the Holy Cross on Jan. 17. 

Athletes, students, advisors and directors from across the commonwealth will be attending this summit which aims to showcase diversity, equity and inclusion in sports and schools. 

Junior ACE President Ashley Ly has been leading the organization for their presentation, which is called “Challenging Culture Blindness in Schools.” The presentation is one that touches upon various important topics. 

“This is basically a presentation of how ACE first originated, what our goals are and what our place is in our community as a voice of including more diversity and culture in the community,” Ly said. 

The presentation will start off with a slideshow, transition into a couple of activities and close with a discussion. The activities include filling out a social and personal identity wheel as well as taking an identity walk, which Ly believes will help students gain a better understanding of their identity as a whole.

“[These activities] help people understand what parts of their identity are affected by certain aspects of our life, such as socioeconomic status, race or language,” Ly said. 

Junior ACE Treasurer Lilah Peters hopes that their presentation will bring awareness to racially motivated events that have been happening in schools and put the power in the hands of the students. 

“A lot of people are unaware of the internalized stuff that is going on in schools, so it’s really important to bring light to that,” Peters said. “…sometimes administrators don’t realize until students speak out.”

Ly is not only going to the event to share their story, but to learn from others as well. She hopes to understand other discussions various speakers will be holding in order to gain more insight into other issues. 

“By [listening to others], we are understanding a bigger picture from another speaker, which helps us see new perspectives,” Ly said.