Pluralism & Identity

At Blake, we celebrate pluralism because it is our steadfast belief that multiple perspectives and experiences are essential for academic, athletic and artistic excellence. We strive to honor each person's unique identity while teaching students to discover new truths by engaging people across difference. Our commitment to pluralism and cultural competency prepares students to thrive at Blake, in college and in the 21st century world and workplace.

A Pluralistic Community

Our community brings together students and staff from a wide variety of lived experiences and backgrounds, which reflect the diversity of the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

• Students come from approximately 60 different Twin Cities neighborhoods.
• Families speak more than 50 different languages at home.
• Approximately 24 percent of students receive need-based financial assistance.
• The many international families at Blake add to the richness of the school community. Students from Japan, Sweden, United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, India, Ireland, China, Thailand and Zimbabwe are currently attending. Twenty-two of our students hold citizenships in the U.S. and at least one other country.
• 36 percent of students identify with a community of color.

A Commitment to Equity

Blake recognizes the aspirational nature of our commitment to pluralism and the need to address persistent inequities in society. The PK-12 Cornerstone Program is an alliance supporting families and students of color at Blake. As students of color and their families both adapt to and transform the school, Cornerstone works to identify norms and practices that help everyone at Blake be seen, heard and valued. Blake is also committed to achieving gender equity and respecting students who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer.

Cultural Competency

Cultural competency is the will and the ability to create authentic and effective relationships across difference. Building cultural competency, and increasingly inter-cultural competency, is at the heart of our academic curriculum, community engagement and global studies.

Social studies courses teach students about different cultures that fosters understanding and empathy. Courses in modern and classical languages prepare students to use their language skills to engage with communities and cultures both locally and around the world in a meaningful way.

Service learning at Blake connects students to the larger community in a mutually respectful way that promotes understanding across difference. When students venture out beyond Blake to tutor peers in local schools, attend the School for Ethics and Global Leadership (SEGL) in Washington D.C., or take a service trip to Peru, they apply the skills and understandings they are learning in our classrooms.