pdf copy - Fairfield College Preparatory School

25SEED
Students for Educational
Excellence through Diversity
Celebrates 25 Years
at Diversity Dinner
Dr. Donna Andrade (left) founder of the SEED program with Travis and Lisa Gerald, P’15
The annual SEED Diversity Dinner was held on April 10, 2013, in the
Brissette Gymnasium. Families were asked to bring dishes that
represented their culture or ethnic background, and with over 100
families, the food was plentiful! Approximately 400 guests attended,
honoring the graduating seniors and welcoming the incoming freshmen.
Speakers included seniors and freshmen,
as well as parents, who gave
testimony to the success of the
SEED program.
The Students for Educational Excellence through Diversity Program
(SEED) at Fairfield College Preparatory School began in 1987.
The 2012-2013 academic year marks the 25th anniversary of the
program. SEED was the first diversity program in the nation for
Jesuit High Schools. Because of the diversity efforts at Prep,
the Jesuit Secondary Education Association (JSEA) implemented diversity
conferences nationwide for the nation’s then 53 Jesuit high schools.
The SEED program was first designed to recruit and retain students of
color who were under-represented in the student population. In the mid ’90s,
the SEED program widened its focus to embrace the challenge of addressing
the “preferential option for the poor,” an essential characteristic of the Jesuit
mission (1986, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J.). The goals of the SEED Program
broadened to include students of all races who would not have been able to
attend Prep due to financial hardship. As a result, the total number of Prep
families enrolled in the SEED program grew tremendously. Prep experienced an
increase in racial, economic, religious, geographic, and academic diversity.
The program was founded and directed by Dr. Donna Andrade (pictured
above) from 1987-2003, at which time she accepted the position of Academic
Dean. In 2003, Alecia Thomas (pictured below) assumed a part-time
administrative position of the program, while still teaching in the Social
Studies department. In 2010, Alecia Thomas accepted the position as full-time
administrator for the SEED program.
The SEED program still retains its original successful model of assisting
with recruitment and admission efforts, as well as providing retention and
support services to students, parents, and faculty.
Alecia
Thomas
22 Prep Today