Alina Calix-Martinez ‘25
Sofia Recio-Reyes ‘26
As a prominent all-girls school in the DMV area, Visitation prides itself on its diverse and accepting community. According to visi.org, women of color make up one third of the student body. While we commend Visitation on its noteworthy efforts to cultivate a school environment filled with both diverse and open-minded perspectives, a lot of room for potential growth remains.
In the last year, Visitation has had some avenues for cultural appreciation. For example, its Kaleidoscope Club, which celebrates diversity and inclusion, planned their annual Diversity Day last March. Visitation students listened to speakers and discussed holy friendship and authenticity. For Black History Month last February, Visitation’s Black Women’s Society (BWS) displayed a fun, educational, and engaging presentation about historically significant black women in an assembly for the whole school. Both events serve as great examples of Visitation’s steps forward into this age of progress for and celebration of people of different cultures.
Similar to BWS’s work, Latinas Unidas hopes to deliver a presentation to teach students about stereotypes and inclusivity in the future. This year, the club introduced a new tradition: having a Mass for Dia de los Muertos with readings in Spanish. There is also an ofrenda, or a traditional altar for Dia de los Muertos, on the main floor of Founders’ Hall for students to put pictures of loved ones who have passed. For Hispanic Heritage month next year, Visitation could also invite guest speakers to talk about their experience as Latin Americans, have a Latin food potluck, and create a gallery of Latin and Hispanic artists in St Joe’s. In addition to teachers’ and administration’s work to support the growth and expansion of cultural appreciation at Visitation, the students themselves play a large role in bringing new ideas and clubs to the school. This year, students began two culture clubs: Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Appreciation Club and Middle Eastern Appreciation Club.
The re-established AAPI Appreciation Club was founded by Jaya Kelly, ‘25, Camille Urcia, ‘25, and Sofia Recio Reyes, ‘26. Urcia said she and Kelly were inspired to re-establish the club because they “wanted there to be a space where girls felt appreciated and open to talk about their cultures with people who have similar backgrounds.” The goals of the club are to “celebrate each other’s heritages and inspire girls of Asian and Pacific Islander backgrounds to embrace their culture with confidence,” said Urcia.
Julia Williams, ‘25, Caroline Bohigian, ‘25, and Erin Neifach ‘25, say they created Middle Eastern Appreciation Club to “spread Middle Eastern culture, create a space where girls can talk about their experiences with the Middle East, discuss current events in the Middle East and share our favorite parts of the culture.” The club intends to engage in service this year and bring traditional Middle Eastern food to club meetings. Additionally, it held a meeting with history teacher Daniel Petri to inform club members about the current conflict occurring in the Gaza Strip.
Cultural appreciation at Visitation can grow through service. Director of Christian Service Anasofia Gutierrez said, “I’m really hoping to expand the presence of affinity clubs in the coming years. I’d love to start service based activities for Affinity Clubs.” We hope to see new service projects with an emphasis on cultural service for different ethnic communities.
Through affinity clubs like BWS, Latinas Unidas, AAPI Appreciation, and Middle Eastern Appreciation Club, the students themselves can create avenues for cultural appreciation on campus. We look forward to seeing their presence on campus grow and expand throughout the year under the combination of student leadership support and administration.
The Wicket 