Alexandra Gobran ‘23 | Caroline Sewell ‘23
Episcopal is a Christian school, but its chapel services make an effort to integrate speeches that discuss other cultures and religions throughout the school year. This effort is part of a push to promote greater inclusivity and awareness among the school. DEI representatives in the student body, prayers which highlight marginalized yet admirable figures during the respective heritage months, and school-wide programming and initiatives support this cause. Student speeches in chapel provide an opportunity for the speaker to impart a lesson to the audience, which can educate the greater community about religions, cultures, and holidays they might know little about previously.
Photo Courtesy of @eachapel on Instagram
Senior Warden of the Vestry Myles Davis ‘22, explains that, “We just try to keep track of specific religions and cultures and what’s going on to make sure that they are included in our chapel program. It’s definitely important, in my eyes and in the whole Vestry’s eyes, just to give different perspectives and share them with the Episcopal community.”
Naomi Isaac-Hyman ‘22, who spoke in Chapel recently about the history behind Yom Kippur and the significance of the holiday. She says that she “wanted to speak because there aren’t very many Jewish kids in the highschool at least, and in the past, I felt like not a lot of people at EA have a lot of background information about Jewish holidays.” She continues, “In the past when we have had speakers for Jewish holidays, they’re often focused on ‘this is how I celebrate the holiday, this is what we do, this is what’s fun about the holiday,’ and not often a lot of context for what the holiday is and why it’s important, and why we celebrate it in the first place, and so I felt like it was a good idea to do that and let people actually have an understanding of this what Yom Kippur actually is, this is why we are fasting, not just this is what we are doing.”
Similarly, Riya Mukherjee ‘23 spoke about both the history and importance of Diwali, sharing its background, as well as various traditions and lessons that are rooted in the holiday. Riley Thibodeau ‘23, who really enjoyed Riya’s speech and thought it “was incredible, and one of my favorite talks this year! Even though I’m not personally super religious, I really enjoy hearing about different religious beliefs in the chapel, because it helps me expand my perspectives and learn.”
The inclusion of a theme derived from the Bible in both speeches highlights the shared values between Christianity and other religions. Father Gavin notes, “I really think it is important to celebrate other religions. For one thing, I think it is affirming for our own religion, to reach out and to embrace others traditions and we end up seeing a lot of similarities, that we are really on the same page for a lot of issues.”
Members of the Vestry believe that hearing the message from peers can be more effective than learning about these traditions from a teacher or an outside source. Davis comments, “If a student is comfortable speaking about his or her culture, then I feel definitely a student perspective is best, because the other students can probably relate to them, as they see them on a daily basis.”
Thibodeau agrees, adding, “I appreciate that I can hear about traditions directly from my peers, as it makes it super easy to connect with the speech.”
Gavin stresses that becoming more inclusive has a larger purpose than just making chapel interesting. He says, “I’ve been here a long time, so I’ve seen a progression of the core values being instilled in our students in general, so I think it’s more of everything we do, not just reaching out and doing chapels that are Diwali, but rather having people speak in Chapel throughout the year who look different than the typical EA student, is important.” He also reflects on the impacts these chapel services have had on the student body, noting, “I think it’s starting to influence students: the amount of respect I see and witness among our student body is one way of measuring how well Chapel’s working, but it doesn’t end in chapel…It’s not just the message in Chapel it’s also the message in classes, the message in the hallways, the message from the form deans. It’s really a team effort.”