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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Nobles: Affinity Groups/Alliances

A guide to resources for diversity, equity and inclusion at Nobles, including BIPOC student support, opportunities and events

2017 graduates-to-be at the Freeman Legacy DinnerAffinity groups are a group of people linked by a shared experience or purpose.

At Nobles, our current affinity groups are organized around racial, ethnic, religious, and gender shared experiences and they are student-led with support from faculty and staff advisors. If you are interested in joining an affinity group, please reach out to one of the faculty advisors for more information.

Nobles Affinity Groups

A2A (Asian 2 Asian)
Faculty Advisor: Aneesa Sen, Nahyon Lee
Student Leaders: Krishnan Menon ’25, Jayden Yee ’25, Kaitlyn Shi ’25, Sunehri Verma ’26, Kavi Shankar ’26, Jackson Fai ’26

A2A (Asian to Asian) is an affinity group for students of Asian and Pacific Islander descent to openly discuss issues regarding culture, race, and identity. The goal is to create a welcoming and inclusive community for students to share stories, bond over similar experiences, and offer advice to each other.
B2B (Brother 2 Brother)
Faculty Advisor: Edgar De Leon ’04 
Student Leaders: Noah Douglas ’25, Nathan Nozea ’25, Akhil Janapareddy ’25, Jayden Yee ’25, Abdirizak Abdulle ’25, Guierry Napoleon ’26, Jeremiah Destine ’26

B2B (Brother 2 Brother) is a group for young men of color at Nobles. The goal is to create a cohesive, tight-knit community among men of color at the school that will ultimately lead to greater involvement in the broader Nobles community. The group also aims to create mentoring opportunities for upperclassmen within and outside of the Nobles community.

S2S (Sister 2 Sister)
Faculty Advisor: Mariah Oates
Student Leaders: Nina Rosa ’25, Tahira Muhammad ’24, Kaitlyn Shi ’25, Valeria Yepes Restrepo ’25, Jasmyn Cooper ’25, Mackenzie Ellis ’25, Morgan Gibson ’25, Phiona Nabagereka ’25, Jacinta Wangari ’26, Mandy Chukwu ’26, Gabi Thompson ’26

Sister 2 Sister (S2S) is an affinity group where people who identify as womxn of color at Nobles can come and voice their opinions on a variety of issues that affect womxn through social, political, and educational means. S2S strives to offer its members the platform to further their social, emotional, psychological, academic, and political growth. Our focus is to build connections between womxn of color in this community and to develop a network of support.
East Asian and Pacific Islander (EAPI)
Faculty Advisor: Nahyon Lee 
Student Leaders: Jayden Yee ’25, Kaitlyn Shi ’25, Alison Park ’25, Jackson Fai ’26, Justin Lee ’26, Jeffrey Liu ’26

EAPI is an affinity group for students of East Asian and Pacific Islander descent to openly discuss issues regarding culture, race, and identity. The goal is to create a welcoming and inclusive community for students to share stories, bond over similar experiences, and offer advice to each other.

Q2Q (Queer 2 Queer)
Faculty Advisors: Talya Sokoll and Michael Polebaum ’08
Number of student leaders: Six

Q2Q is an affinity group on campus for students who identify as LGBTQ+, and is open to both upper schoolers and middle schoolers. Email lists are kept confidential and coming to this group is a great way to learn about and share your own experiences as being a member of the LGBTQ+ community both at Nobles and in the world.
Kehilla
Faculty Advisors: Talya Sokoll and Michael Polebaum ’08
Student Leaders: Jonas Zatlyn-Weiner ’25, Raquel Frankel ’25, Lily Comander ’25, Ben Myers ’25, Leah Farb ’26, Ruby Delinsky ’25, Ben Gelber ’25, Carina Grossman ’25, Hailey Rashes ’25

Kehilla, Nobles’ Jewish Affinity Group, cultivates pride in Jewish identity, creates a safe space for Jewish students, and fosters discussion around antisemitism.
Black Student Union
Faculty Advisor: Mariah Oates
Student Leaders: Morgan Gibson ’25, Noah Douglas ’25, Jordyn Julien ’25, Sienna Robertson ’25, Abdirizak Abdulle ’25, Phiona Nabagereka ’25, Jeremiah Destine ’26, Gabby Simmons ’25

Black Student Union is an affinity group for Black/African American students to openly discuss issues regarding culture, race and identity. The goal is to create a welcoming and inclusive community for students to share stories, bond over similar experiences and offer advice to each other.

Poder (Latinx group)
Faculty Advisor: Edgar De Leon
Student Leaders: Nina Rosa ’25, Valeria Yepes Restrepo ’25, Christian Gonzalez Pena ’26

Poder is an affinity group for Latinx students to openly discuss issues regarding culture, race, and identity. The goal is to create a welcoming and inclusive community for students to share stories, bond over similar experiences and offer advice to each other.

Mosaic (multiracial group)
Faculty Advisors: Kim Neal, Violet Richard
Student Leaders: Olivia Charity ’25, Lara Sahagun ’26, Toby Gauld ’25, Kai Neal ’25, Alex Yoon ’26

Mosaic is an affinity group for multiracial-identifying students. Mosaic aims to create a welcoming environment to hold conversations about our experiences as multiracial students at Nobles and in the broader community, and to learn about the diverse cultures within our affinity group. 

South Asian Student Affinity Group
Faculty Advisor: Aneesa Sen
Student Leaders: Rohin Pinisetti Class ’25, Krishnan Menon ’25, Arthi Vithiananthan ’25, Kavi Shankar ’26, Vihaan Batra ’26

SAAG is an affinity group for students of South Asian descent to openly discuss issues regarding culture, race, and identity. The goal is to create a welcoming and inclusive community for students to share stories, bond over similar experiences, and offer advice to each other.

Muslim Affinity Group
Faculty Advisor: Amadou Seck
Student leader: Abdirizak Abdulle

This is a group for students who identify as Muslim to discuss issues of religion, race, culture, and identity. The goal is to create a welcoming and inclusive community for students to share stories, bond over similar experiences and offer advice to each other.

Middle East Affinity Group
Faculty Advisor: Zeynep Isvan 
Student leaders: Lucia Sahagun ’26

This is a group for students who identify as Middle Eastern to discuss issues of religion, race, culture, and identity. The goal is to create a welcoming and inclusive community for students to share stories, bond over similar experiences and offer advice to each other.

For more information about any of these newer groups, please contact Ms. Oates or Mr. De Leon.

Alliances

White Antiracist Group
Faculty Advisors: Curtis Mann, Jane Strudwick
This group holds discussions around racism, bias and whiteness, to become more active, responsible and knowledgeable antiracist citizens and members of the Nobles community.

SYNAPSE Neurodiversity Alliance
Faculty Advisors: Sara Toga, Heather O'Neill
Student Leader: Amanda Rosa ’26
Neurodiversity refers to the different ways that our brains learn/function. This is an alliance space, an inclusive space where we can come together and discuss strategies for success, tips for learning, how to live, work, and learn with a variety of neurodiversity and raise awareness and celebrate the diverse ways our brains work. This space is open to our entire school community. 

DEI Student Advisory Board

A2A:

B2B: Noah Douglas ’25

BSU: Nathan Nozea ’25

Kehilla: Ben Myers ’25

Middle Eastern: Lucia Sahagun ’26

Mosaic: Kai Neal ’25

Muslim: Abdirizak Abdulle ’25

Poder: Valeria Yepes Restrepo ’25

Q2Q: Alex Stein ’25

S2S: Nina Rosa ’25

SAAG: Arthi Vithiananthan ’25