Academy Initiates Core Values Projects for the Winter Term

By SUNGHYUN BAE, ERIN HAN, and CELIA VALDEZ

The start of winter term marked a new rotation of Core Value Projects (CVPs), with some students continuing projects from previous years and others creating entirely new ones. So far, around halfway through the winter term, a handful of meetings have taken place, with project titles ranging from “Economics For Empowerment” to “Minecraft For Others.”

Projects this term, as outlined in the winter 2023 Core Values Project guide, will “build upon [the] antiracism and antioppression conversations of last year to explore the Academy’s Core Values. Those conversations will provide the necessary foundation to fully live our Core Values and to do so in community with each other. The Core Value Project will explore the ways in which our commitment to antioppression is embedded in the Academy’s mission and core values statements.” 

Students with a goal of highlighting or improving upon some of the Academy’s core values are encouraged to start a CVP pertaining to a topic they are passionate about, with each employing different mediums by which they expand on these Academy core values.These ideas were sparked by specific changes students wanted to see in the Exeter community with respect to curriculum and opportunities, students’ personal ties to the topics they chose, and even shared experiences amongst co-facilitators. 

Senior and co-facilitator of the “Our Stories Through Poetry” CVP Parmis Mokhtari-Dizaji shared, “I have always really loved writing poetry and I wanted to find a way to bring more opportunities to write poetry into the Exeter community.”

“More specifically, I thought that poetry is a great medium to reflect in more of an artistic and fluid way, which is especially important when it comes to expressing your own story, background, and identity,” Mokhtari-Dizaji continued. “There is no right or wrong way, this is just a safe space where people can feel comfortable to explore such personal matters.”

Co-facilitator of the “Minecraft For Others” CVP and upper Nicholas Li spoke about how he and his co-facilitators hoped to build upon Exeter’s values of non-sibi and community and inclusivity through participant-built structures on a shared Minecraft server.“At least for video games, Minecraft is one of the more versatile ones in that it’s an open-world game where you can really do things depending on how you see fit, which is really why we chose it as a medium.

He continued, “We were trying to exemplify what DEI is in a more casual setting, I would say, recognizing diversity and inclusion are increasingly important to address, and that we can kind of incorporate this idea into our hobbies, if your hobby is to play video games.” 

Li also spoke about how he hoped the CVP would also serve as a period of rest from participants’ demanding schedules. “In order to get people to branch out of their comfort zones, we had to give them some kind of leeway to escape from their day-to-day obligations. Minecraft is also just a fun game: a distraction from the day, from the morning, from the first two periods.”

For lower Jinmin Lee, the creation of the “Question Everything” CVP that he co-facilitates felt natural, and like an opportunity to expand on his common interest in philosophy with the other co-facilitators. “Andrew Gould, Forrest Zeng, and I always found ourselves talking until 3 a.m. every weekend (and sometimes weekday) about philosophy,” he said. “We noticed how disagreements in our discussions allowed us to better understand the topics we talked about. We wanted to broaden our scope of knowledge by engaging with more people philosophically.”

Upper Sofiya Goncharova, a student facilitator of “Global Unrest: Unveiling the Diverse Perspectives on Turmoils Around the World,” explained that her motivation to initiate the CVP with co-facilitator and upper Tania Luchak stemmed from her personal identity. 

“I started this CVP because I am half Ukrainian and with Jewish roots and was born in Russia,” Goncharova said. “Discussing the conflict hit too close to home so I avoided it for a long time. I wanted to force myself to confront this issue, because I had been avoiding it. The CVP was a way of forcing myself to think about and confront the conflicts.”

In terms of how CVPs have been progressing, lower Sophie Yu, a participant of “CCC (Coloring, Cinema, Candy),” believes that CVPs help bring people together for effective discussions students might not have otherwise. “I think that [they] really give students the freedom to organize something that they think is super impactful and find groups of people who really do connect with the person who starts the CVP’s values. That’s something that’s really cool, and in that sense it’s easing some of that uncomfortableness of having certain conversations that you wouldn’t typically have or aren’t typically as effective.” 

Lower Anne Wang, one of the co-facilitators of “Environmental Activism Through Art” also believes that CVPs are a great way to make improvements in the school’s community. “I think the CVPs are a great way to expand on core values. We tried to make ours as engaging as possible, so that everyone who’s there wants to be there.”

However, not all students share a similar outlook on the initiative. Others view it as more of an obligatory club or extra free block in the day. Lower Muralini Mohan, a participant of the CVP “African and Caribbean Art,” believes that many students are not always truly passionate about the CVPs they join. “I think oftentimes the CVP that people are put into is not really reflective of what they want to do; given their schedules, they put it off until last minute, and they just choose whatever is free,” Mohan said. “Also, it’s just an easy way to get a free block into your day if you know it’s…low-commitment…” 

Prep Oluj Okeremi, a participant of “Coding for Campus,” voiced that not all CVPs are focused particularly on the Academy’s core values. “I think CVPs are more like electives and not all of them expand on our core values,” he said.

For some participants, CVPs serve as more than just a platform for promoting school values, offering a valuable break and welcome respite within the school routine. Okeremi noted that CVPs can be “a breath of fresh air because of how stressful classes can be.”

Yu echoed this sentiment, describing her CVP as a “chill, safe space where you can work on what you have to do.” 

Mokhtari-Dizaji added from a facilitator’s perspective that CVPs are “a great way to take a moment in the day to work on something as important as our core values.” 

However, not everyone shared this same opinion. “Students are given opportunities to avoid engagement,” Goncharova commented.

Lee agreed, furthering that CVPs might not be the best approach to achieve the initiative’s goals. With “Question Everything,” he added, “It is sometimes challenging for students who don’t have a deep expertise in history or sociology to connect and teach a particular activity with themes of anti-oppression. The most efficient method to raise awareness for anti-oppression would be to have teachers teach more classes on injustice.”

“However,” he added, “the advantage that the projects hold is that they are an engaging, student-led way that makes people still think about what the values mean.”