The All-School Meetings this year have been much more diverse in terms of topics and the speakers’ background due to student feedback and Marlborough’s new mission of equity and inclusion.

The ASM coordinating team this year is made up of Dean of Student Life Brett Quimby and Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Regina Rosi Mitchell. The ASM Coordinator, this year Micah ’21, is also involved in the process. The team has been taking student feedback into account to bring new speakers.

“I want to have speakers, and I think the school, and everybody, wants to have speakers that are interesting to students and that expand their ideas and start conversations with the school,” Quimby said.

Last year Quimby received feedback from students that ASMs needed to be more diverse. There were multiple ASMs on the topic of white female entrepreneurs which far outweighed other topics. Students felt these women were not representative of the entire student body or the world. Sofia ’22 was one student who spearheaded the push for equity and inclusion in ASMs.

“You can’t make every student happy, but at least make every ASM where every student can take something away from it,” said Sofia.

While last year did include diverse ASM speakers such as Matthew Cherry talking about his short film “Hair Love,” this year the ASM team has made an even more conscious effort towards inclusion. This semester’s ASMs have featured a more diverse group of speakers, including: Dolores Huerta, a farm workers’ rights activist; Patrick Woody and Marta Urquilla,two different people of color working in politics from opposite parties; and Diane Shader Smith, who shared the story of Mallory Smith, her late daughter, in hopes of shedding light on cystic fibrosis and disabilities.

“Especially after everything over the summer, I feel like that really pushed the momentum towards diversity and equity and inclusion, and that was kind of the push we needed,” said Micah. “I’m happy that we’re going in that direction.”