Life at Mayfield

It is the first Student Diversity Council (SDC) meeting of February, and Avalon Dela Rosa ‘22 calls the session to order. Today’s agenda is packed. The plan is to discuss the virtual Black History Month assembly the group hosted online during the advisory period just an hour before. Avalon, who shares the title of SDC Co-Head with Frances Burton ’21, gets quickly to the subject at hand. “We're just going to debrief about how the assembly went and you can share something that went well or something to work on for next time,” she says, in a relaxed tone. “We have a lot of people today, so I was thinking about doing a round robin...”

The first thing you should know about Latinas Unidas is that it’s a group effort. Unusually, there are five club co-heads—Ale Casillas ’21, Adrianna Greenup ’21, Natalia Rodriguez ’21, Stephanie Rodriguez ’21 and Mariana Trujillo ’21. Their 30-member club represents a broad mix of the Latinx community with connections to Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Columbia, Spain, and Mexico. But like the name “Unidas” suggests, this group is all about being unified, showing solidarity even while celebrating differences.

To say that the internet changed the face of news is a major understatement. And, like many newspapers, the student-produced Mayfield Crier has endeavored to make the transition from a print-only news source to a hybrid media outlet. Although the production team had been dipping their toes in digital waters since before 2015, they made the choice to focus on print, as these monthly publications were already a major undertaking. Plus, handing out physical copies after assemblies, and being able to share in the excitement with classmates and teachers, was an unmistakable thrill for everyone involved.

On the first day of school, Monday, Aug. 26, Head of School Kate Morin stood outside Pike Auditorium welcoming every student—with a wave, a kind word, or one of her legendary hugs. Once inside Pike, in the first all-school assembly of 2019-20, Mrs. Morin issued a different kind of greeting, one embedded with a challenge for the year: “Do something scary every day.”

Members of Mayfield’s Filipina Affinity group were awarded a prestigious grant to establish an educational and cultural exchange program with students in the Philippines, a significant recognition that speaks to the school’s commitment to promote global education and multiculturalism.

During a week when our nation has been transfixed with mid-term elections, Mayfield students, too, took action—as prospective voters, young women of faith and student journalists intent on presenting accurate and balanced government reporting.

The Mayfield Filipina Affinity Group has been awarded a prestigious grant to establish an educational and cultural exchange program with students in the Philippines who are survivors of human trafficking and children of former commercial sex workers.

Student Council leaders lined up on the Pike Auditorium stage—their formal uniforms neat and new on this first day of school—and announced opening assembly instructions for all to follow:

The 20 members of Mayfield’s Campus Ministry Council assembled like professionals at a brown-bag lunch meeting, prepared to tackle pressing year-end matters.

Way before fancy dresses were purchased and limos were reserved, our prom committee was learning real-time lessons in planning and organization. These Mayfield leaders well understood the awesome responsibility of delivering the most important social event of the school year—all while managing their own busy schedules.

At 10 a.m. Wednesday, Mayfield students and faculty gathered on the North Lawn in prayerful solidarity with students throughout the nation who walked out of their classrooms as part of a movement against gun violence one month after a gunman killed 17 people at a Florida high school.

Steve Bergen supervises 7 a.m. detention sessions—and knows the intricacies of sponsoring a successful pie eating contest. He can spot an out-of-uniform student from across the driveway—and can see the leadership potential in a freshman.

The gym was packed, school spirit could not have been higher and the work of our student-run Athletic Leadership Council scored a huge victory for Mayfield.

For the first time in recent memory, we celebrated a cherished Mayfield tradition, Ring Night, on the lovely Pergola Lawn, returning the ceremony to the magic of nightfall on its 50th anniversary.