The first Friday assembly of the year in the new Huss Center for the Performing Arts was not devoted to senior speeches. Instead, the focus of the assembly was a clear one: change. Upper School principal Chris Hughes, the opening speaker, gave a broad overview of newly implemented policy changes this school year, ranging from dress code to gender neutral bathrooms. Shortly afterward, Upper School Council Presidents Cait Gibbons and Claire Walsh in addition to Vice President Moira McCarthy, took the stage to line out the changes and process of adaptation of the dress code. They encouraged students to respect these new rules, which were altered to be realistic, rephrased to be non-offensive.

Upper School history teacher Nan Dreher then presented data from a schoolwide survey conducted by the Women in History class. Data presented included conditional distributions of level of safety in different areas of the school by grade, gender, and more.

“I thought it was relatively insightful, that the data was compiled very well an coherently, and it was interesting seeing the gender divides in the school,” senior Emma Taussig said.

After the numbers had been presented, Dean of Students Max Delgado, the final speaker of the assembly, stepped up to the podium. He contextualized the information that had been presented, stressing the implications and the steps that would be taken from here. Delgado also differentiated between micro and macroagressions to supplement the results of the survey. It was made clear that turning challenges into opportunities was the goal, not intellectualization.

“It’s part of the solution but it can’t be all of the solution, Delgado said.