VCS Welcomes Karyn Farrar-Perkins as Director of Diversity and Inclusion
The year 2020 has been one of great social unrest in our country and around the world. As a school, Village Christian is compelled to help our students see the times they live in through a Biblical lens.
VCS is committed to ensuring that every student, family, and employee feels cared for by our loving community. The Board of Directors and school leadership felt that it was critical to add a strategic position to our administration this school year to bolster efforts to extend our CARE Values to everyone in our community.
New Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Karyn Farrar-Perkins, was hired in August to provide this leadership. Farrar-Perkins brings a wealth of knowledge and more than 30 years of educational experience to Village and its students amidst this time of heightened social awareness.
“I see this position being a bridge that continues to bring various voices together,” said Farrar-Perkins, who has served as a delegate to the White House Summit on Faith-Based Intercity Schools and was named to Christianity Today’s “50 Leaders Under 40 to Watch” list. “Not that we are going to necessarily always agree, but that we are using the Word of God for how we support each other and lean on each other. That’s what Christ is calling us to – to figure out what justice is and what love is.”
As the Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Farrar-Perkins will work with our faculty and staff, students, and parent groups in a variety of ways that promote education, awareness, and overall support to our diversity and inclusion efforts.
“What I would like to accomplish in this space and in this school is that we understand what diversity and inclusion looks like – not just on a surface level, but a much deeper level,” said Farrar-Perkins, who founded Living Stones Academy in Grand Rapids, Michigan as well as Harambee Preparatory School (Harambee Christian Family Center) in Pasadena. “Not diversity for the sake of diversity, but that we would look at this as we are all created in the image of God. We are going to have a variety of races, cultures, socioeconomics, and abilities – that all gets wrapped up together. That’s what diversity and inclusion looks like.”
Most recently, Farrar-Perkins comes to VCS following numerous years serving at Pasadena Christian School as a teacher and administrator.
“We are so fortunate to have found a leader like Karyn, who has extensive experience teaching and leading at Christian schools as well as a proven ability to bring people together with the love of Jesus,” said Head of School Tom Konjoyan. “As a Christian school located in the most diverse city in the world, we want to be a leader in following in the path of Jesus to love one another as He has loved us.”
Please join us in welcoming Farrar-Perkins to the VCS family!