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DIVERSITY RESOLUTION
The Trustees of Gifft Hill School believe that a diverse and inclusive learning environment is integral to achieving academic excellence. We recognize and value the experiences that diversity of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, family structure, age, and ability contribute to Gifft Hill School.
Student Diversity at GHS
We believe that student diversity at Gifft Hill School is too complex and nuanced to summarize with a simple set of statistics.
Here's why.
Like other Caribbean people, Virgin Islanders tend to identify based on culture rather than based on appearance. This contrasts with the tendency in the mainland United States to think of identity primarily along lines of race. The most locally relevant student identity groups at GHS are cultural rather than racial and are based primarily on where students grew up and who their families are. Approximately half of the students on the Upper Campus, and one-third of the students on the Lower Campus, are of Caribbean heritage, meaning that they have multigenerational roots in the Caribbean. Within this group are students with ancestry from nearly every nation in the Caribbean region. At the same time, Caribbean-heritage students may identify, along with our Continental-heritage students, as Black, white, mixed-race, Latino, Indigenous, and Asian. The Caribbean and US-based ways of talking about identity coexist in this Caribbean territory of the United States, meaning that there are nearly as many distinct identities as there are students at GHS.
Because of this complex interplay of culture and race, the following demographic tally is only one of the lenses with which we view our identity as a school.
40%
Caribbean Heritage
60%
Continental Heritage
27%
Black/West Indian
51%
Caucasian/White
14%
Hispanic/Latino/Afro-Caribbean
14%
Multi-Racial/Mixed Ethnicity
1%
Asian/Pacific Islander
*Note: The numbers do not add up to 100% because some students identify in more than one category.*
At Gifft Hill School, we believe that a diverse and inclusive learning environment is integral to personal growth and achieving academic success. Our school community is strengthened by the presence of different cultures, genders, races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, socio-economic status, family structures, ages, and abilities. We strengthen diversity through events such as V.I. Culture Day and attending the NAIS People of Color Conference.
