Last Sunday, Choate hosted the Students of Color (SOC) showcase for prospective students of color and their families. Organized by Choate’s Admission Team, the reception night was a welcoming experience for new students of color to get a sense of the community before joining the rest of the admitted students for revisit week in the following days.
The night kicked off with a welcome dinner for the families, followed by speeches from Head of School Dr. Alex Curtis and members of the school administration. The reception ended with an array of musical performances; a talented lineup of our current students came together to give the recently admitted students a taste of Choate’s community. The idea of the showcase was spearheaded by Ms. Brianne Ellis, the Director of Multicultural Recruitment and her team of admission staff consisting of Mr. Ryan Strange, Mr. Michael Rodriguez, and Ms. Amy Sun.
As a member of the School’s Diversity and Multicultural Recruitment team, Mr. Strange and his colleagues were responsible for managing the event. “We thought it would be great to highlight student voices and their talents with the showcase. We have a lineup of nine performers, a mix of singing, dancing, and instrument[al] performances,” said Mr. Strange. Explaining the process behind choosing the performers, he said, “We thought about different areas of campus, specifically the arts, and we were just trying to come up with people who we know have a presence on campus and are really passionate about what they do. We support each other’s talents and differences, and we want to amplify that voice and make sure that students grow and be who they want to be.”
The team encountered several challenges in preparation for the showcase. “It’s a little bit challenging when we have scheduling conflicts — students not being able to perform, faculty members not being able to join us for the dinner that took place. Being able to balance everyone’s schedules was one of the more challenging parts of the process,” said Mr. Rodriguez. Many performers had to power through scheduling challenges and time constraints. On the subject of availability conflicts, vocalist Jordan Dodd ’25 said, “I was only able to assemble the band just four days prior to the performance — it was really hectic. There were a lot of sleepless nights and it was definitely a challenge, but we got through it, and I think we got through it well.” Likewise, pianist Ava Maha ’23 revealed that she hadn’t been planning on performing her song until the day of the performance. “I actually played and sang it for the first time this morning! That being said, I loved the song and I felt like ‘Rise Up’ by Andra Day was a good choice as a nice, inspirational piece to close out the event.”
Dancers Cathy Liu ’24 and Kitty Yu ’22 were faced with an even greater obstacle. While the dynamic duo wowed the crowd with their K-Pop performance, they were in fact one dancer down because their third member contracted Covid-19 just days before the performance. To accommodate this ill-timed adversity, they had to overhaul the entire performance under great time constraints — choosing a different song, editing the audio, redesigning the choreography — and against all odds, delivered a memorable performance. “I hope that the newly admitted students will see through our performance that Choate is a diverse community that fosters countless interests; here, they have utmost support to pursue their passions and hobbies!” Liu remarked.
When asked about the message he wanted the audience to take away from his uplifting piano performance, Mwendwa Daisley ’23 said, “Just be happy! The hardest part is over — getting into the schools. Celebrate with your family and take the time to make sure you make a good choice.”
Trumpeter Jarett Jean Jacques ’22 commented on his visions for the showcase going forward. He said, “I think that it was an amazing event. It was the first of its kind, and I truly hope that it can continue and even be a part of something bigger. This showcase was just for students of color; if we can have an event for an even larger pool of admitted students, that would be amazing.”
Despite the challenges they faced, every performer knew that the message of their performance resonated with the audience. Visiting families and prospective students were undoubtedly impressed with the performers and truly felt the spirit and passion of Choate. This was the first time Choate has ever hosted a performance showcase as part of the SOC reception, and thanks to the dedication and efforts of everyone involved, it saw great success — after all, the talents and voices of the students, the incredible faculty, and the programs on campus are what make Choate unique.
