Unity Walk: Moving Forward Together

At the beginning of each school year, Cannon students and faculty take a walk together.

For the past three years, the Upper School has marked the start of the year with the Unity Walk, a chance for students, faculty, and staff to pause, reflect, and consider the kind of community they want to build together. This year, the tradition took another step forward as Middle School students and faculty participated in their own Unity Walk as well.

While the walks took place on different days, the purpose was the same: to come together around a shared commitment to the Cannon community.

Before setting out, participants choose one or more commitments from Cannon’s Unity Pledge that feel especially meaningful to them. The pledge calls on each of us to help create a community where people feel seen, heard, valued, and able to contribute in meaningful ways.

That means treating one another with respect and kindness. Listening to and learning from people whose perspectives or experiences may differ from our own. Seeking to understand, finding common ground, and celebrating one another. It also means refusing to participate in harmful or hurtful behavior and not looking the other way when we see it.

At its core, the pledge is a reminder that each member of the Cannon community has a role in shaping the culture of our school.

“There is something powerful about moving forward together with a common purpose,” says Claudia Velandia, Cannon’s Director of Diversity, Belongingness, and Engagement. “We each bring different experiences and ways of seeing the world, and different parts of the Unity Pledge may resonate with each of us.”

At Cannon, unity doesn’t mean that we all think alike or have the same experiences. It means bringing our different perspectives, experiences, and talents together around shared values and common goals. It means being curious about what we don’t know and willing to learn from one another.

The Unity Walk also gives students and adults a chance to put Cannon’s Core Values of Courage, Respect, Integrity, Teamwork, Passion, and Kindness into action. “These are not simply words,” Velandia says. “They guide the choices we make and the relationships we build within our community.”

And that’s really the point of the Unity Walk: the walk itself is only the beginning. “The Unity Walk is the starting line,” says Velandia.

The real work happens afterward in classrooms and hallways, at lunch and on the playing fields, in performances and clubs, and in the everyday conversations and interactions that make up life at Cannon. It happens in how we listen to one another. How we respond when we disagree. How we include someone who might otherwise feel left out. How we support one another. How we choose to show up.

As the Unity Walk grows to include more of the Cannon community, its message remains simple: We may each bring different experiences, perspectives, and strengths, but we share responsibility for the community we create.