Features

Three years in the making and just weeks from completion, the new Middle School Arts & World Languages Center marks the first phase in a multi-year makeover planned for Durham Academy’s Academy Road campus.

In July, a group of current students and recent graduates proposed a series of concrete short-term, mid-term and long-term racial equity reforms that Durham Academy could implement to become a more inclusive and fair school community.

Much of the energy that Durham Academy faculty and staff put into making the school’s hybrid mode of instruction possible this year is beyond quantifying (think countless hours spent reworking lesson plans over the summer and on weekends).

DA Hybrid was built to bring as many students “back to school” as possible, as safely as possible, prioritizing the youngest learners first.

Speaking from her home in New York City via a virtual meeting of DA Upper School’s History of Durham class in October 2020, Valerie Kennedy ’81 held students in rapt attention as she recalled the challenges and opportunities presented by growing up in Durham and attending DA in a time of change. 

Three parent groups have been at the forefront of families’ engagement efforts around diversity, inclusion and racial justice reform at Durham Academy.