Affinity Groups

AsIAm is an affinity group for students of East and Southeast Asian descent to build community.  The weekly meetings are an important way of connecting Asian students at Winsor to create a greater sense of belonging. History, culture, holidays, and traditions are often discussed in weekly forums.

Chaverot serves to foster a sense of community among Jewish students and allow these students to feel connected to their religion and heritage and each other through an exploration of Judaism. The club also provides a way to teach the Winsor community about the many different aspects of Jewish culture including but not limited to traditions, holidays, and Israel. 

First Generation Experience will focus on the challenges of the Immigrant Experience. The group is meant for Winsor students who are immigrants and for people whose parents immigrated to America. The group strives to create a safe and respectful environment where immigrant and first-generation students discuss and unpack their identities.   

MENA seeks to provide a safe space for those who identify as North African or Middle Eastern.

MOSAIC is a safe space for those with two or more conflicting identities in how they navigate the world. If you want to go to (or have already attended) another affinity group at Winsor, but feel that it is only part of your identity, this is a place to share your experiences.  

SASA (South Asian Student Alliance) is an affinity group for students who identify as South Asian. SASA strives to create a safe environment in which students feel comfortable sharing their experiences with South-Asian culture to promote a sense of belonging and sensitivity among South-Asian students and others. 

SISTERS is an affinity group for black students.  SISTERS is a space to affirm black students' sense of racial identity while encouraging participants to be full, connected participants in the larger community.  The weekly forums provide opportunities for leadership, mentorship, and community building.

SOMOS is an affinity group for students who identify as Latinx or have Latinx roots. SOMOS provides a forum for Latinx students to connect and discuss complex and important issues like colorism, language, and the complexity of identity within the Latinx community.

Ummah strives to serve and support the social and spiritual needs of Muslims at Winsor by providing a space where they can share the particular experiences that come with their religious identity.

AsIAm is an affinity group for students of Asian descent to build community and bond over shared experiences. The biweekly meetings are an important way of connecting Asian students at Winsor to create a greater sense of belonging.

Hummus and Pita is an affinity group for students who identify with Middle Eastern, North African, Central Asian, and Mediterranean cultures. Students in the group share a heritage rooted in geography and shared culture but not necessarily in religion.

Sababa serves to foster a sense of community among Jewish students in the Lower School and allow participants to feel connected to their culture, religion, heritage, and to each other.

SAMOSA (Student Affinity Meeting Of South Asians) is an affinity group for students who identify as South Asian. SAMOSA strives to create a safe environment in which students feel comfortable sharing their experiences with South Asian culture to promote a sense of belonging.

Somos Sisters is an affinity group for Black and Latinx students. Somos Sisters provides space to affirm students' sense of racial identity, while encouraging participants to be full, connected participants in the larger community.

Ummah strives to serve and support the social and spiritual needs of Muslims at Winsor by providing an affinity space where they can share the particular experiences that come with their religious identity.

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, Ummah, MENA, and Chaverot 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.