On January 24, Lake Forest Academy hosted their sixth annual Fostering Intercultural Respect and Engagement Conference, otherwise known as the FIRE Conference.
The conference was created and hosted by Lusanda Mayikana, Dean of Equity, Pluralism, Inclusion, and Community (EPIC). Mayikana touched on the purpose of the FIRE Conference, being “an effort to show our youngsters that it is possible to engage in dialogue with people whose views differ from yours without silencing them but taking time to listen and hear where they are coming from and centering empathy and compassion in the dialogue.”
Lake Forest Academy held the event in the new Athletic Center Expansion, inviting nearby schools such as North Shore Country Day School, Adlai Stevenson High School, Carmel Catholic and more. EPIC prefects Xitlali Ocote-Arellano ‘25 and Yiwen Lu ‘25 also worked alongside Mayikana in planning the conference.
Mayikana began preparing in June, where she “coordinated with various stakeholders to ensure that we wouldn’t encounter similar challenges as the year before when we had to cancel because the date coincided with the regional Science Olympiad and the Math Team competitions.”
When the EPIC Prefects joined Mayikana in planning four months prior to the conference, they first needed to pick a theme: “When Dr. Mayikana asked for our input in coming up with the theme, Yiwen and I wanted to focus on the long-term goals and plans we can implement now for the future of DEI,” Ocote-Arellano explained. “Initially, we chose ‘Ignite the Future: Long Term Impacts,’ but after Dr. Mayikana met with the DEI Board, we decided on something catchier: ‘Igniting the Future: Building Bridges Towards Collective Growth.’”
In terms of finding a speaker, Associate Dean and Director of the Office for Inclusion, Belonging and Intergroup Communication at Stanford University Mohammed Soiano Bilal was able to attend the event. Bilal was supposed to attend the conference last year; however, the 2024 edition was cancelled due to several conflicts. Therefore, he was designated as a chosen speaker for this year early on. Mayikana explained the process of discovering Bilal, “I had worked with the speaker bureau representing him, so when I read his bio and watched his videos, I inquired about his availability and chatted with him to find out if he could work with a high school audience. He was very personable and easy to talk to, and I knew the students would love his engaging presence.”
To prepare for the day of the conference, EPIC prefects worked with the presenters to craft their final drafts and provided suggestions. After working with the speakers, the prefects found students to run workshops and community dialogues for others to attend. The planning process was multifaceted and complicated, but the hard work and efficiency that was put in allowed for the 2025 conference to be completed in time. With a lot of participation from both LFA students and outside community members, Ocote-Arellano felt that students learned a lot and had meaningful conversations. She also added that even if students didn’t want to speak, they could still listen and learn so much — one of the amazing aspects of the conference.
Kicking the day off was the speaker, Bilal, with an inspiring address and closing with a thoughtful discussion and presentation. After his opening speech, students formed their own groups and worked with a faculty member to begin the conference. The first task was to grab a partner and recite each other’s stories, which emphasized the importance of identity and active-listening skills. Following this, students attended workshops they had signed up for prior to the conference. Those workshops were led by fellow LFA students who had chosen topics such as the importance of identity, the impacts of stereotyping, and much more, keeping the FIRE conference theme of “Building Bridges Towards Collective Growth” in mind.
The conference created a safe space for students to open up about their personal experiences and discuss the importance of identity and cultural respect. When asked if Mayikana felt like this event was successful, she stated, “Absolutely! I was most proud of the peer-facilitated sessions and how the facilitators intentionally ensured that the participants felt seen and heard, were mindful of the power dynamic, and conducted their sessions at eye level. They engaged in dialogue and were inviting – thus keeping everyone engaged and wanting to learn more.”
She finalized, “I appreciated everyone leaning in, allowing themselves to be vulnerable throughout the day, trusting the individuals in the space to listen to them without judgment and continuing to engage in dialogue regardless of their mistakes. That, to me, felt like success.”
