Creating a Sense of Belonging at Field

The Field community is like a mosaic: each person brings their piece of a distinct story and perspective, and together these pieces create a vibrant, unified whole.

Creating and growing such a community requires ongoing effort: actively embracing diverse perspectives, seeking out the missing pieces, and fostering a genuine sense of belonging for all. Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Debario Fleming illustrates this through a mosaic activity, inviting students to see how their unique pieces—stories, identities, and voices—fit together to form a shared, meaningful experience of what it means to be a part of the Field community.

The Mosaic Activity

To explore these ideas in greater depth, students in grades 6–12 participated in a reflection activity during their Advisory period. Debario presented students with a story about creating a mosaic and then tasked students to reflect on the following questions: 

1. What is one word that represents something about you that others may not know but is important to who you are?
2. What is one thing the Field community can do to help you bring your whole, authentic self to school?
3. What's one value, quality, or idea that you hope to see reflected in our community?

Students then created individual mosaic designs based on their reflections. These individual pieces are being combined into a larger quilt that represents how different stories connect to form the school community.

What We're Building

• Diversity means having people with different backgrounds and perspectives
• Equity means giving everyone what they need to succeed
• Inclusion means making sure everyone has a real voice and role
• Belonging means people feel valued and essential to who we are as a school

This project helped make these concepts more accessible and meaningful for our students while creating something beautiful that represents our community.