Hinch Receives Honor from Princeton Prize in Race Relations

Taylor Hinch ’17 has received a Certificate of Accomplishment from the Princeton Prize in Race Relations for her work to promote diversity in education.
 
The certificate recognizes an action plan that Hinch developed last summer while participating in the 2016 Leadership Institute: Identity, Diversity, and Leadership at Brown University.
 
Following the institute, Hinch created a two-week program designed to give 8th graders a forum for discussing social identities and injustice in the classroom. Topics range “from gender identity to race and ethnicity, socialization, and how our identities change the way we see the world.”
 
Hinch says the program gives students, faculty, and staff vocabulary, tips, and tricks for learning how to facilitate discussion about these issues.
 
“The goal of my program is to create a dialogue between students and educators so they can break down the walls between them and build meaningful relationships that recognize the value of diversity,” says Hinch. “I have found, from my own experience and from my peers, that when someone has a better understanding of their own identities, embraces them, and recognizes their value, they are better leaders and better citizens.”
 
A strong student, she is a member of Indian Springs’ award-winning Mock Trial Team. Last fall, she served as Springs’ Co-Commissioner of Citizenship, helping to plan the school’s semiannual day of service and to create a fundraiser (“Springs on a Mission”) that raised $1,500 for the YWCA.
 
She serves as a student ambassador for Indian Springs and during grades 10 and 11 served as a mentor to younger boarding students. She has taken part in three YWCA social justice programs: Anytime Alabama, Peace Birmingham, and Make a Change. For the past four years, her volunteer efforts have included tutoring students at Helena Middle School 3-4 times per month in Pre-Algebra and English. She has also taken part in monthly volunteer projects organized through YouthServe. 
 
Hinch was recently recognized by the Shelby County Reporter as a 2017 Standout Senior: Role Model. She has received a full cost of attendance Presidential Scholarship from Villanova University.
 
“Taylor has an extraordinary commitment to public service and to finding ways to improve every community of which she is a part,” says Head of School Dr. Sharon Howell. “Her action plan will help us to reimagine and implement a dynamic diversity curriculum for 8th graders, and start important, interdisciplinary conversations about equity and inclusion as early as possible in their Springs careers. We are so grateful for her imagination and energy."
 
The Princeton Prize in Race Relations works to promote harmony, understanding, and respect among people of different races by identifying and recognizing high school-age students whose efforts have had a significant, positive effect on race relations in their schools or communities.
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Indian Springs School, an independent school recognized nationally as a leader in boarding and day education for grades 8-12, serves a talented and diverse student body and offers admission to qualified students regardless of race, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Located in Indian Springs, Alabama, just south of Birmingham, the school does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs.

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