Hear from SPS students about the GDS Summit on Sexual Assault and Consent!

SPS 2020 Society sponsored a group of current SPS students to attend the Georgetown Day School Summit on Sexual Assault and Consent, which took place virtually last weekend. It was a powerful weekend facilitated by thoughtful, knowledgeable, passionate students from GDS, with inspiring panels and workshops from policy makers, advocates, lawyers, and this year, Susan and Alex Prout.

Hear from our student attendees about their experiences at the summit: 

"I learned so much throughout the conference! My most impactful sessions were about (1) navigating the various boundaries in our relationships and (2) the harmful impacts of insufficient sex education in tandem with damaging messages in pornography. In these two sessions, I had the unique opportunity to absorb critical information and hear from academic and personal perspectives. Most valuable to me, though, was the continual discomfort I felt in these sessions - this was a productive and challenging discomfort that I have yet to personally experience in any sex/consent curricula at SPS." - Nikhil Vootkur '21

"For me, the most impactful moment in the summit was when Cheyenne Jacobs made the remark that "Not working with K-12 around these issues is denying that this trauma is happening around young people." I wrote it down immediately. This is what SPS needs to hear. 

One of the biggest things I think SPS can do is start this education, beginning in third form. Students step onto our grounds as young as 13 years old. St. Paul's needs to equip them with the tools to navigate the relationships that they will inevitably be having, no matter how "uncomfortable" that conversation may be. Ms. Jacobs really highlighted that by not discussing these topics we are ignoring their presence among young students." - Current SPS Student

The information needed to make campuses safer is out there and readily available. We hope SPS will send its own team of students and faculty next year.