It can be a scary thing to speak out in a new space in front of strangers, especially when you really care. But Christian Loren Sifrat, a student at Pawtucket’s Charles E. Shea High School, is brave — and Bryant University’s Belonging Institute, part of the university’s annual Day of Understanding, gave her a platform.

During a game of “Four Corners,”  Sifrat and the nearly 200 other juniors and seniors from seven Rhode Island high schools, were asked to choose a social issue ranging from gender equality to climate change to safer schools. Sifrat chose economic justice and, when she was asked to explain her choice, her answer was simple.

“It’s all about opportunity,” she argued. “We all deserve the same chances and resources, no matter where we’re from.”

Sifrat’s words would echo throughout the day as she and the other Belonging Institute participants met with Bryant students, participated in interactive activities and heard from nationally known keynote speakers.

The Belonging Institute was developed to share Bryant’s Day of Understanding, a university-wide event that provides programs, workshops, and spaces for dialogue to advance awareness about race, accessibility, gender, equity, and other important diversity related issues, with high schoolers from across Rhode Island. Funded by the Papitto Opportunity, the Institute brought students from Blackstone Valley Prep, Central High School, Central Falls High School, Charles E. Shea High School, St. Mary’s Academy Bay View, Times2 STEM Academy, and Woonsocket High School to campus and covered the cost of transportation, meals, and activities for the day.

“The Day of Understanding has become a hallmark event filled with vibrant celebrations and transformative learning experiences, where we come together as a campus to dive into the issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging,” says Mailee Kue, Ph.D., Bryant’s Associate Vice President of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. “In its fifth year, this event has become a source of great inspiration and campus pride, and we wanted to extend its impact beyond our campus walls. By sharing this experience, we aim to inspire future leaders to join Bryant and to strengthen the connection between Bryant and the broader Rhode Island community.”

The students began the day with breakfast in the university’s Fisher Student Center. Bryant student volunteers, including Mishelle Cordero ’28, Marilyn Maisy Adu-Awuah ’24MSBA, and Jordan Cosman ’28, welcomed the high schoolers to campus with warm smiles and handed out Bryant University lanyards, signifying how they had joined the campus community for the day.

“The Day of Understanding lets us take a step back and think about some important ideas a little bit more deeply, and I think we’re all excited to share that opportunity,” Cosman said.

“My goal today is to drive you toward being something the world needs a little more of: Empathic leaders.”

Plus, he pointed out, being a good neighbor, and sharing the lessons we learn, is just the thing to do. “I remember that so many people helped me find my way when I was in high school. I hope we can do the same thing,” said Cosman.

Once the students were settled, Theresa Hasseler, Ph.D., director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, and Veronica McComb, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, led a “Building Belonging” workshop where the students engaged in icebreaker games and discussions that explored and challenged social issues and helped to foster a deeper sense of understanding and belonging.

Some of the games, like “Opposite of Jackson,” where students had to do the opposite of an increasingly complicated series of requests, were designed to help the students escape the rote, mechanized thinking we frequently find ourselves trapped in, Hasseler explained. “We want to be in a space today where we can play a little bit more and make ourselves open to all the different ideas and things that we're going to look at throughout the day,” she told the group.

Others, like “Four Corners,” not only help them to consider the issues important to them but share different perspectives with others.

“This is a chance to share not just our perspectives but our individual experiences,” mused Sifrat. “I think one of the things we’re learning is that we share a lot of things in common even though we’re from different schools and backgrounds.”

Filled with energy and ready to learn, the students then joined the university community for the Day of Understanding’s first keynote, where Bryant University President Ross Gittell, Ph.D., asked the crowd to give the visitors a special Bryant welcome.

“I think today was about finding your power, embracing it, and realizing how you can incorporate it into helping others.”

“Thank you for being here, for your dedication to this important day at Bryant, and for making our community a better place for all,” said Gittell. “It is my hope that we leave today not just with a heightened awareness but with determination to act on what we learn.”

During his keynote address, Curtis Hill, president of the DEIB consulting firm Curtis Hill Beyond Limits Inc. and founder and CEO of Culture of Belonging Global, also acknowledged the youngest members of the audience. “Let’s have a special round of applause for the high school students here today, because they are our future,” said Hill.

Throughout his presentation, which covered a range of topics from unconscious blind spots to the power of embracing alternate perspectives, Hill invited both Bryant students and high school students — including Sifrat — to come up to the stage to help him demonstrate, and celebrate, the power of diversity, inclusion, and equity. Though they were different ages and backgrounds, the groups came together as one.

After lunch, in the university’s Stepan Grand Hall, the group took part in a special session with keynote speaker, award-winning television and radio broadcaster, author, motivational speaker, leadership coach, and Syracuse University Hall of Fame scholar-athlete Vera Jones. “My goal today is to drive you toward being something the world needs a little more of: Empathic leaders,” Jones told the high schoolers.

Jones also spoke to the students about discovering their own strength. “Words are powerful; they can hurt and they can heal. Not just what you say to other people but what you say to yourself,” she argued. “If you change your words, you can change your life.”

As they prepared to head back to school, the students were gifted Bryant University hoodies and a copy of Jones’s book, Leadership 6-S, to commemorate the day. They also left with a lot to think about.

For Elsy Hernandez, a student from Times2 STEM ACADEMY, who admitted to being moved to tears by the speaker’s powerful words, the Day of Understanding Belonging Institute was about more than learning something new.

“I think today was about finding your power, embracing it, and realizing how you can incorporate it into helping others,” considered Hernandez. “We can all find ways to influence others for the better.”