Written by: Anya Sastry ’20 (Web Staff Writer)

On Friday, January 5th, the whole school gathered to hear the stories of Wade Davis, an anthropologist and explorer. Throughout the convocation, Mr. Davis shared his experiences with people from the far-reaching corners of the Earth, humans that are so vital to our world and its roots. That Friday, the school heard stories about interacting with indigenous people from East Africa to Tibet to Colombia to Greenland. Throughout his presentation, beautiful and vibrant photos glowed from the projector behind him, bringing Mr. Davis’s words to life.

As the National Geographic Society explorer intertwined stories of cultures rooted deep in the history of this world, the audience’s eyes widened at the photos of women dancing in the snowy mountains, tribes sitting around a dancing fire as shadows flickered across their faces. Mr. Davis articulately and passionately argued how languages are going extinct, elders passing away before they have the chance to tell their youth the stories of their ancestors in their own tongue. With Mr. Davis’s experiences, the whole school partook in a celebration of diversity, engaging in a thought-provoking speech on the variety of cultures in our world.

The ideas that were present in Mr. Davis’s speech bring to light the issues that most people are not aware of. Intricate languages and cultures are dying out before anyone now has the chance to appreciate them. The first step to solving that problem: educating. Educating people about the diversity that is prominent all over the world, not just in the well-known countries. So, a big thank you to Mr. Davis for taking that first step and educating the Loomis Chaffee community on the issues at hand.