Diversity - Equity - Inclusion

• Catholic Social Teaching calls us to pursue justice and peace, and live out the virtue of solidarity with all people. We take these teachings to heart and personalize them to who we are as a school. Our Christian beliefs demand that we educate and challenge our school community to reject all forms of discrimination. We pursue and promote all forms of diversity in our school including but not limited to: ability, age, belief, ethnicity, family structure, gender, gender identity, learning style, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. We continually strive to make all members of the Bishop Blanchet community feel welcome, celebrated, and safe. 

• These efforts are modeled on our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Framework. The DEI Framework is grounded in the four foundational principles of Catholic Social Teaching: Solidarity, Subsidiarity, Human Dignity and the Common Good. In utilizing the DEI Framework, our community is called to become architects of a just society through a cycle of reflection, observation, analysis, and action.

Dear Community, 

As part of the Bishop Blanchet mission, we strive to form and educate each student within a challenging, positive, and diverse environment. An integral part of this mission is our ability to continuously expand on the ways we cultivate a more inclusive and diverse school community reflective of our global community. Our increasingly global community is one where race, gender, class, ability, and age intersect. Within this reality, we recognize our responsibility as global citizens to engage in continuous education and awareness. 

At BBHS, the model for these efforts is known as the DEI Framework. Grounded in Catholic Social Teaching, the DEI Framework empowers the BBHS community to become architects of a just society through a cycle of reflection, observation, analysis, and action.

Our DEI Framework focuses on the four pillars of Catholic Social Teaching - Human Dignity, Common Good, Subsidiarity and Solidarity. Through Catholic Social Teaching, we are called to pursue justice and peace by continuously and actively aligning ourselves with our sisters and brothers, especially the most on the margins. This is who we are at BBHS, we take this call to uphold human dignity and the common good to heart. While we recognize the work we have done thus far, we also challenge ourselves to dig deeper, to take a step beyond our comfort zones, and continue standing with the marginalized by working together towards justice and equity for the entire Blanchet community and beyond. 

In an effort to celebrate and reflect the needs of our growing community, Blanchet has several student affinity groups and social justice focused clubs. The BBHS student affinity clubs currently include: Asian Pacific Islander Club, Black Student Union, Latinx Student Union and Legacy Council. We celebrate this richness of diversity through events such as Diversity Week and the annual Diversity Leadership Summit. 

We support our Faculty and Staff members throughout the year by offering resources and opportunities for continued formation in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Educators attend DEI workshops, our "Lunch and Learn" series, hear from visiting speakers, and attend local and national professional development conferences.

We strive to make our students of color and their families feel welcome, celebrated, and safe through the efforts of our Multicultural Affairs Council.

Peace,
Sofia A. Lopez Bactol
Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
slopez@bishopblanchet.org