By Dulany Bennett, Head of School

Oregon Episcopal School and its parent schools, St. Helen's Hall and Bishop Dagwell Hall, were founded and developed on principles of diversity from which our school benefits today. Mary Rodney left a very strong, very traditional Episcopal school in the East to come to Portland to open a new school in 1869. She and her sister and brother-in-law, Bishop Morris, were not intent on replicating an Eastern-style school. Right from the beginning they determined to bring two disparate groups together: urban girls from the city of Portland and the daughters of pioneer ranchers from eastern Oregon and Washington.
After World War I, as the United States became more cosmopolitan and began viewing itself as a global power, St. Helen's Hall was governed by an order of Episcopal nuns, the Sisters of St. John Baptist. While some may have equated nuns with old-fashioned schooling, our sisters were quietly ensuring that students at "The Hall" were well prepared for employment outside the home. During this period they also began accepting international students and emphasizing the importance of community service as part of an Episcopal education.

Our current effort at creating a diverse school with multicultural themes continues the traditions of St. Helen's Hall. We bring together students of promise from around the world, as well as from the greater Portland area, who can best benefit from an OES education. Portland is changing. It is a more diverse community than it was 10 or 20 years ago. Oregon Episcopal School is changing with the city. We are reaching out to religious, ethnic, economic and racial communities that may not have been aware of us in the past, and who may have interest in our mission. In this way we are attempting to ensure that students of promise from many different backgrounds who are well qualified for our school have the opportunity to be considered for admission.

At the same time, we are working within our school community to ensure that our curriculum is reflective of the global education we want to offer our students, and that our education clearly includes multicultural themes. Our history, religion, arts and literature classes include Asian, African, and European works and thought, as well as those of North and South America, and discussions flow from many perspectives, as we have students from 12 countries attending our classes.

It is our hope that through programs like these, and with the oversight of our Board Diversity and Outreach Committee, we are preparing our students for a rich experience in a global society. We cannot know where they will live, or whom they will encounter, but we hope they will walk forward joyfully and unafraid, eager to greet the world they encounter and well prepared to face the challenges before them.

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