History

The Duchesne Diversity Team was created in 1997 by staff at the Academy of the Sacred Heart with a $10,000 grant from the Society of the Sacred Heart. Sixty-one students from St. Augustine High School, Xavier Prep High School, Jesuit High School and Sacred Heart participated in an overnight workshop. These students were trained by the American Youth Foundation to facilitate workshops for their peers on issues of diversity such as racism, sexism, classism, stereotypes, racial profiling and affirmative action and tolerance.

Each year, the program has grown in both scope and participation and currently, students from eleven private, archdiocesan and public schools in New Orleans work together on a Diversity Team to positively initiate efforts for diversity in their schools, their city and themselves. The High Schools involved with the Team in the 2004-05 school year are the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Xavier University Preparatory School, St. Augustine High School, Jesuit High School, Louise S. McGehee School, Isidore Newman, St. Martin's Episcopal, Ursuline Academy, St. Mary's Dominican High School and St. Bernard High School. The team focuses on developing leadership, facilitation, and social skills in a student-centered environment. Each year students from the member schools' Diversity Teams plan and facilitate a High School Diversity Workshop that is an opportunity for all high school students in the city to interact with students very different from themselves and learn about how to be a positive force for change in their own schools.

Mission Statement/Vision

Promote a greater understanding of diversity of all forms in the New Orleans area among young people in order to celebrate our differences and to break down the barriers that separate us. The Duchesne Diversity seeks to:

• educate students as facilitators and participants in workshops which address the issues of diversity
• promote a greater social awareness that impels to action*
• provide and participate in opportunities which promote diversity in the greater New Orleans community.
• develop leadership skills
• provide the capacity for them to use these skills

We recognize that through education, open-minded dialogue and action, we can help change the systemic causes of prejudice, discrimination, and violence that permeate our society.

*From the Goals and Criteria of the Academy of the Sacred Heart

Five Goals of a Sacred Heart Education are:
a personal and active faith in God,
a deep respect for intellectual values,
a social awareness that impels to action,
the building of community as a Christian value,
and personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom.

Non-discrimination Policy
The Academy of the Sacred Heart is a Catholic, college preparatory, ISAS school for girls. We admit qualified students regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin. Financial aid is available