Poly Prep capped off Solidarity Week with an All-School photo in a Rainbow Flag formation on the Oval on the Dyker Heights campus on November 4, the first time all three divisions have joined together for the event. For more than eight years, the Lower School has celebrated Solidarity Week, formerly Ally Week. Each year during this week, our students learn about difference, respect, and safety for every member of our school community.

“All week long our classes have been discussing kindness, being an upstander instead of a bystander, and what it means to support and stand up for people who are being treated unfairly because of a perceived or actual difference.”

In celebrating Solidarity Week, Head of Lower School Francis Yasharian P’36 explained to families, “Nationally, Solidarity Week encourages students to stand in solidarity with LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) youth. This pertains to many members of our community who do not fit into a perceived norm and/or are marginalized, which is even more reason to actively teach respect and allyship to our student body. All week long our classes have been discussing kindness, being an upstander instead of a bystander, and what it means to support and stand up for people who are being treated unfairly because of a perceived or actual difference.”

Allyship in Action

“Solidarity Week, like most inclusive events,” Yasharian continued, “is about providing a safe space for families and students who attend Poly Prep. We want to stress that this event is an opportunity to talk about differences and similarities, bullying and intolerance, discrimination and equity, and the courage it takes to be an ally. Solidarity Week is not about learning about sexual attraction. It is about including those who may be, or feel, marginalized in our diverse community. Here at Poly, people will not be made to feel bad about who they are or whom they love.”

Solidarity asks to consider that our collective well-being is interwoven, and so our allyship must be intersectional.

For example, at Lower School, Aiyana Parker’s class of fourth grade students offered to come to classrooms to read books chosen for the grade, “intended to spark conversation about what solidarity means to us.” Two fourth graders would then come to read to the students. Read-alouds for Solidarity Week included: Nursery-Kindergarten, I Walk with Vanessa; Grades 1 & 2, Strong and Annie’s Plaid Shirt; and Grades 3 & 4, Night Before Pride and Red.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday in the Upper School, there was a Solidarity Assembly at which the GSA members defined allyship as “when an individual speaks out and advocates for a person or group that is often targeted and discriminated against.” Members also shared their personal experiences advocating for others or themselves.

Lower School and Upper School Projects

Lower School arrived on the Dyker Heights campus at midday, had lunch, and enjoyed recess on the Roventini Field, Then they moved to spaces around the Dyker Heights campus. Lower School students and Upper School students came together in the library, Student Center, Blue Devil Deli, and in classrooms, where they found materials for projects to work on together.

Around a Deli table, seniors and kindergartners created a framed poster. They worked together to decide what to name their teams, such as The Bunnies, and how to arrange bright, colored circles of construction paper to create their faces. They took turns with markers and glue sticks to create a happy picture.

For the Rainbow Flag portrait, students and faculty dressed in assigned colored T-shirts—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. They populated the into the color coordinated rows on the Oval that were set up for the photo. Director of Student Life Jared Winston stood atop the portico roof over and asked the Lower, Middle, and Upper School students and faculty all to hold up colored sheets of paper to create our human Poly Prep Rainbow Flag. Students spelled out S O L I D A R I T Y at the edge of the Oval in front of the flag. A booming cheer erupted after the photo was taken. After an exciting day that brought our youngest children to the Dyker Heights campus to learn and collaborate with our Middle and Upper School, the Lower School students and faculty headed back to Park Slope – a positively Poly day!