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Intercultural Competency Leadership Training
I spent the last two days facilitating an intercultural competency leadership retreat at Escola Americana de Belo Horizonte.
During our session, board members, senior administrators, parent and teacher leaders engaged in sustained discourse and reflection to translate workshop insights into meaningful EABH-specific strategy to foster belonging and intercultural competency.
Many thanks to Catarina Song Chen and workshop participants for welcoming me to Belo Horizonte and their beautiful school.
DEI Consultant Explains Key Factors That Lead to Belonging
I am very grateful to be mentioned in this Scarsdale Inquirer article highlighting content from my recent parent meeting at Scarsdale Public Schools. I am looking forward to Year 3 of my collaboration with the District to deepen belonging for all students.
Many thanks to the Scarsdale parent, faculty and staff, and student community, and particularly to Drs. Edgar McIntosh and Drew Patrick for their leadership.
Foundational Intercultural Competency Capacity Building
I recently had a great consultation in Montevideo at the Uruguayan American School. During my two days onsite, I provided foundational intercultural competency capacity building for middle and upper school students, faculty and staff, parents, senior administration, and the board.
During our sessions, I invited constituents to reflect on the knowledge, skills, and competencies that students will require to interact with individuals from similar and different backgrounds currently at school, later at university, during their careers, and in their lives.
I also provided DEIB trends, specifically from international schools in Central and South America, while sharing best practices to foster an inclusive school community.
Celebrating Seven Years of Collaboration
I am deeply appreciative of the seven years of collaboration with Colegio Nueva Granada to deepen intercultural competency and belonging.
I look forward to returning to Bogotá, Colombia in August to lead professional develop and iterate strategy.
Love working with such incredible schools in São Paulo!
“Foi um enorme prazer receber Dr. Derrick Gay esta semana na Escola Concept para falar sobre fluência global e a interseção enter competência intercultural, aprendizado socioemocional e desenvolvimento de caráter.
É sempre um prazer encontrá-lo e aprender com você, Dr. Derrick Gay. Estou ansiosa pelo nosso próximo encontro em outubro.
It was a huge pleasure to have Dr. Derrick Gay talking to learners, parents, and educators at Escola Concept this week about global fluency and the intersection between intercultural competencies, social emotional learning, and character development.
It is always a pleasure to see you and to learn from you Dr. Derrick Gay. I am looking forward to working together again in October.”
A Meaningful Inaugural Visit to the Sāo Paulo campus of Escola Concept
What a meaningful inaugural visit to the Sāo Paulo campus of Escola Concept!
During this first consultation, I facilitated conversations with middle and upper school students, parents, and employees around belonging, within an intercultural competency framework. The school currently leverages Habits of Mind, design thinking, SEL, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, so I was able to build this foundation.
So many students approached me after the talks to pose questions about belonging, to share specific aspects of the presentations that resonated, or to explain about their individual action research projects within the realm of belonging and intercultural competency.
I also felt like Beyoncé as so many students requested photographs! :)
Adults were equally appreciative of the talks and posed thoughtful questions regarding strategies to support cultivating openmindedness with children in developmentally appropriate ways while navigating the challenges of today's world, particularly regarding social media influences in an increasingly polarized world.
I look forward to returning in October to continue our efforts! Many thanks to Priscila Torres and the entire community for their partnership.
Building Community and Belonging Task Force
Another meaningful consultation in Bogotá, Colombia at Colegio Nueva Granada.
During this 6th consultation, I spent two days working with the board, parents, faculty and staff, and the Building Community and Belonging (BCB) Task Force.
I also continued my ongoing data collection through middle and upper school focus groups to learn from and amplify student voice to inform ongoing DEIB and intercultural competency efforts.
You know that you have become part of the school community when the security guards tells you upon entering the school: "Es usted que ha venido siempre!" (You're the one who comes all the time).
Looking forward to returning next year!
Deepening Intercultural Competency
I recently returned from a few weeks of consulting in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru. I am excited to share insights from my partnerships to foster and sustain inclusive organizations starting with El Salvador.
I am proud of my ongoing partnership with Escuela Americana and head of school, Polly Parker, PhD. Take a listen to the video to learn more about our efforts to foster belonging so that all students flourish.
Dr. Gay Named 2020 Dr. Maria Montessori Ambassador Award Recipient
Every year, through a variety of awards, the American Montessori Society (AMS) honors individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the Montessori Movement. AMS is proud to honor and recognize the ways in which they move Montessori forward.
“An ordinary teacher cannot be transformed into a Montessori teacher, but must be created anew, having rid herself of pedagogical prejudices.”
The Dr. Maria Montessori Ambassador Award honors individuals who, through their work in a variety of areas such as the arts, sports, government, and higher education, are fostering a landscape in which Montessori education cannot only thrive but flourish.
Dr. Derrick Gay is proud to be the 2020 Dr. Maria Montessori Ambassador Award recipient. Other award recipients include Ashley Judd (2023), Wynton Marsalis (2022), and Chelsea Clinton (2021).
On accepting the award, Dr. Gay remarked,
"I consider myself fortunate to have served and advocated in the education space over the past 23 years, consulting with organizations across many sectors (education, nonprofit, finance, law, the arts). If I had to impart one lesson to empower individuals to design and support inclusive environments, I would share this: Inclusion is always intentional. Cultivating a sense of belonging and connectedness is not an organic function of our belief that we are good people. Moreover, while Montessori undoubtedly values inclusion, this belief should not be confused with action. Inclusion always requires the ongoing intentional efforts of each and every one of us in the community in partnership with each other."
Find out more about the American Montessori Society on their website.
#RunningWhileBlack
The Erasure of Black Runners’ Experiences in Mainstream Coverage of the Ahmaud Arbery Murder
The hunting and killing of Ahmaud Arbery provided yet another graphic account that exacerbates the individual and collective trauma that Black Americans manage every day. Arbery’s tragic fate serves as a painful reminder that Black people are not able to enjoy common activities without raising suspicion of criminal activity. While running should ideally represent an inclusive space where participation and enjoyment is not a function of race, this is not the case. I have also removed birdwatching from my list of potential hobbies. Indeed, being Black in the United States does not represent an arbitrary identity marker; instead, being Black necessitates an intentional survival strategy.
Sadly, the notion that a Black person in the United States was killed at the hands of a self-proclaimed white vigilante is not remarkable. The Arbery case, however, disoriented me in a very particular manner: I have been deeply troubled by the absence, or perhaps dismissal, of the perspective of Black runners in the mainstream media’s reporting an analysis of Ahmaud’s case. With few exceptions, notably a single NYTimes article, the ongoing trauma that Black runners manage has not, to date, been explored in a meaningful way from the perspective of those most impacted—Black runners.
I appreciated Dr. Natalia Petrzala’s thoughtful Op-Ed highlighting the racist history of running and providing instructive historical context to better understand the intersection of running and racism. I also was not surprised to find an equally fervent counterpoint written by Jack Butler, a white author who challenged Petrzala’s conceptual framework, offering a series of academic red herrings that progressively decentered the true thesis: a Black runner was gunned down by a retired white law enforcer and his son, and, more broadly, Black runners around the country fear for their lives daily. Butler also argues that running is a “simple and unifying enterprise,” recklessly decoupling running from its macrosocietal racial context and the experiences of Black runners.
Alison Mariella Désir, a Black runner and mental health advocate, refutes this assertion noting that running is not the great equalizer and that “the truth is, when I go for a run as a black woman, that in and of itself is a political act and one that puts me at risk—fearing for my life.” Désir’s sentiments are not an anomaly among Black runners. If our collective goal is to heighten awareness and empower change agents, then the accounts of Désir and other Black runners are the perspectives that must be centered both when analyzing Arbery’s case and reporting on racism in the running world.
To this end, I have produced a series of conversations to discuss challenges, motivations, and joys of #runningwhileblack with ultramarathoner and author, Mirna Valerio; and lawyer and runner, Exavier Pope I.
The first of these two conversations explores a spectrum of themes ranging from racial microaggressions while running and parenting Black boys, to notions of respectability politics, and signaling as a survival strategy for Black runners.
My second conversation explores specific anti-racist strategies that white people can enact to stop the senseless killings of Black people and explore manifestations of racism within their own lives.