POC Discount

GWMS offers a 50% discount to POC. As the school’s creatrix, I feel strongly about this, and many factors have led me to offer it.

Because Black, Indigenous, and, in fact, all People of Color have historically been and still are in many ways denied the benefits of their labor in this country. 

Because the system we are currently working within has built a system that favors whiteness in every way possible. From housing, educational jobs, and legal rights.

Because the wealth and world position that the United States has is directly based on a history of slavery, stealing land, and exploiting People of Color worldwide and on this continent.

Because POC often have less intergenerational wealth.

Because even as a small, solo-led business, I have more access to resources because of whiteness.

And while GWMS continues to work on deconstructing the idea of centering whiteness as the norm, the reality everywhere is that POC still need to do more emotional labor in predominantly white spaces. 

I don’t see this discount as affirmative action or charity. POC still need to meet all the criteria that any student applying to GWMS would. The school does not set quotas for a certain percentage of POC. I take people who are called to the school and who feel it is a good match for them. 

And none of this removes the need for those of us who are white to continue to do our personal internal work around dismantling racism and learning how to be an actual ally. 

The need for reparations for this is clear; however, meaningful reparations must happen on wide-scale Federal and State levels. I think of the discount more as a way I can help make the idea of reparations more normalized.

Because racial identity can be complex, GWMS won't gatekeep around how you define yourself.

In 2019, we were challenged to change teacher-student dynamics and the ways we center whiteness as if it were the norm. There has been a lot of work done, and we will continue to change. I understand that People of Color might not be interested, given those concerns, but I am still offering a 50% discount for any POC who wants to learn in this space. I am committed to offering this discount to as many people who choose to attend.