Affinity Groups

AsIAm is for students of East Asian and Southeast Asian descent.

BQB, formerly Big Queer Breakfast, is for students who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Chaverot is for Jewish students.

First Generation Experience is for students who are immigrants, or whose parents are immigrants.

MENA is for students who identify as North African or Middle Eastern.

MOSAIC is for students with two or more identities that affect how they navigate the world.

SASA (South Asian Student Alliance) is for South Asian students.

SISTERS is for Black students.

SOMOS is for Latinx students.

Ummah is for Muslim students.

AsIAm is for students of Asian and South Asian descent. 

Hummus and Pita is for students who identify with Middle Eastern, North African, Central Asian, and Mediterranean cultures. 

LQL, formerly "Little Queer Lunch," is for students who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Sababa is for Jewish students.

SAMOSA (Student Affinity Meeting of South Asians) is for students who identify as South Asian. 

Somos Sisters is for Black and Latinx students.

Ummah is for Muslim students.

As stated in Winsor’s Principles of Diversity, “The school affirms, teaches, and values a belief in the dignity and humanity of every person and a commitment to understanding individual and group differences.” Winsor’s affinity groups support this important principle. Affinity groups can be an important step toward inclusion in that the group allows students who might otherwise suppress their identities to feel proud and confident; the affinity group provides a platform from which students who are culturally different from the majority can confidently be themselves and not feel pressured to conform. (It is important to note that there are students at Winsor who are culturally different from the majority and feel joy, comfort and pride without an affinity group.) AsIAm, the First Generation Experience, MOSAIC, SASA, SISTERS, SOMOS, MOSAIC, and Ummah provide an opportunity for those families and students who want it to connect positively to their own ethnic/cultural identity.

Building authentic relationships with people from all backgrounds is critically important at Winsor. Winsor students live and learn in mixed groups for the vast majority of their time at school each day; most affinity groups meeting during a 35-minute affinity group meeting each rotation during lunch (and on selected reading periods in the Lower School) helps some girls feel more connected, visible, and included. No acronym or term is a perfect description of people’s wonderful and complex ethnic and cultural identities.

An affinity group is a group of people that shares a common experience. The purpose of an affinity group is to strengthen the community by increasing the ways a person can find connection, support, and voice at Winsor starting with smaller groups of people who want to connect on specific areas of experience or identity.

Participation in affinity groups at Winsor is entirely voluntary.

Director of Community and Inclusion Julian Braxton is available for conversation.