Everybody Has a Story to Tell

The Upper School forum, Navigating the Refugee Experience, aimed to highlight and celebrate the numerous connections the greater St. Albans community has with refugees. Panelists included Amar Bakshi ’02, artist and the founder of Shared Studios; Layli Miller-Muro, founder and CEO of the Tahirih Justice Center; Farinaz Firouzi, an Iranian refugee who fled the country with her family as a child to avoid persecution by the government of the Bahá'í religious minority; and Gretchen Skidmore, director of education initiatives at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The Lower School’s forum, The Power of Stories, focused on the events we experience and people we encounter and how they impact our lives and emotions. Through workshops, a museum-style exhibit of refugee and immigrant stories, and conversation with Bakshi, students gained deeper understanding of how special moments in their lives inform their perspectives and shape their understanding of the world.

The hope is that by understanding each individual’s experience—both within our community and in the world at large—we will gain not only a broader understanding of our humanity but also become better informed about issues others are facing in the world and discover how we can be involved in the solutions.