Each year, the Association of Independent Maryland Schools (AIMS) hosts several Diversity Leadership Conferences that offer amazing opportunities to develop our student leaders through collaboration with their peers at other area independent schools. This 22-23 school year, over 20 GCS Upper School students attended three different conferences. Read more about each conference below, and help us bring even more Dragons to conferences during the 23-24 school year!

The Baltimore Student Diversity Leadership Conference (BSDLC) is a diversity and equity leadership training event that is sponsored by AIMS and is specifically for regional (DC, MD, VA, DE) 9th-12th grade students and their faculty/staff supporters. The conference is planned and led by the students and centers the voices and experiences of identities often marginalized. Last fall, eight Upper School students and one staff member joined over 400 other students and teachers at Sandy Spring Friends School for the 2022 BSDLC. Read more here.

The Maryland Asian Pacific Islander South Asian Conference (MAPISAC) is a student-led conference planned by Asian Affinity group leaders from various high schools across Maryland. The goal of the conference is to provide a space for APISA students across the region to learn about and discuss topics and issues connected to the APISA community that are not raised elsewhere. Each year the MAPISAC conference draws approximately 300 students and educators from the DMV area.

Finally, the AIMS Belonging in Gender and Sexual Identity Conference (BGSI) is the annual conference for educators, middle, and high school students who identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies.