Get to Know the Leaders of the Parent Cultural Competence Committee
The Parent Cultural Competence Committee has hit its stride. Over the past two years, the PCCC’s "Potomac Stories" series has been a silver lining, connecting us through shared experiences and offering opportunities to learn about new ones. Moving the meetings to virtual has increased access to panelists from far and wide, and more parents, alumni from out of town, and faculty and staff have been able to participate. Thank you to Shauné Hayes and Esther Lee, this year’s co-chairs, and Janice Lam, last year’s co-chair with Shauné.
Q: What is the purpose of the Parent Cultural Competence Committee?
Shauné Hayes: The purpose is to ensure Potomac parents are active partners in fulfilling the school’s goals as they relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We support parents in developing cultural competence and help them to learn, understand, communicate and interact with people across cultures and differences. We do this by hosting various speaker panels, book discussions, dialogues, and by sharing resources that explore topics along the lines of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, ability, language, and socio-economic status through a variety of lenses, such as equity and anti-racism.
Esther Lee: We hope to foster and strengthen an open and inclusive community at Potomac and provide a safe space for candid discussions on DEI issues. We also hope that parents, faculty, and staff learn from each other's experiences and from experts on how to build a more open and inclusive community.
Q: Why is being culturally competent important?
Shauné: Maya Angelou says in her poem "The Human Family," “...We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” It is my hope that by participating in the PCCC, parents are willing to identify and challenge their own cultural assumptions, values, and beliefs and are open to learning about different cultural perspectives of knowing, seeing, and living. I hope parents get to know others in our community and learn from their experience, perspective, culture, and identity. I believe the work the PCCC is doing is showing us that we have a lot more in common than we do differences.
Janice Lam: We want to bring Potomac parents together in a safe place to listen and learn from one another in order to develop empathy and understanding for one another.
Q: What is the vision for the future of the PCCC?
Shauné: My vision for the future of the PCCC is to continue highlighting the vibrant personas of our parent and school community, to bring maximum visibility to our committee's work by the events we host, and to increase engagement.
Esther: That more members of the Potomac community and not just people of color will participate in PCCC meetings and discussions.
Janice: My vision for the future of the PCCC when I was co-chair was that we’d seek out each other’s stories, appreciate each other for who we are, and learn together. Most importantly, parents can expect to build new friendships through the PCCC. Indeed, the best part of co-chairing the PCCC for me has been becoming friends with Shauné!
Q: What can we expect from future programming?
Shauné: We are planning to host a special guest for Black History Month and two more discussions for our speaker series to talk about allyship and celebrate AAPI month in May. We look forward to partnering with Around the World for their April event. Parents can also expect a spring social (weather and COVID permitting), so we can come together in person before the end of the school year.
Esther: We will continue to host important and relevant conversations on issues relating to fostering a more inclusive community. Our next virtual meeting will be about Black History Month, and the following one will be about leadership lessons learned from women of color, in celebration of Women's History Month. We had a fun social gathering at a rooftop bar in the fall and will host another one in the spring.