Inquiry in Action: Civic Engagement & Learning on the Mesa
February 6, 2026
Last week, Cate students moved from questions to action as they explored their civic responsibility amid nationwide ICE protests.
On Tuesday, during Assembly, Director of Libraries Carolyn LaMontagne shared an important and necessary announcement about the role of misinformation in shaping public opinion. Using real-world examples from both sides of the political aisle, Carloyn challenged students to consider who controlled the narrative, why, and how. Drawing on the all-school read 1984 as well as the SIFT method (Stop, Investigate, Find better coverage, Trace to original), they encourage the Cate community to lean into the discipline of discernment and become “active consumers of information.”
Immediately, Cate students put that discipline into action.
On Friday, Cate students participated in the national shutdown on campus to raise awareness about immigration enforcement and political violence. Student leaders, including prefects, senators, and members of the Hispanic-Latinx Association, worked with faculty to organize a day of optional teach-ins, open discussions, and creative expression in solidarity with marginalized immigrant communities currently targeted by immigration enforcement across the United States.
During the morning assembly, student leaders formed a silent circle as classmates shared reflections and personal testimony on their experience with immigration enforcement. Pari Malik read a statement on behalf of student leaders at Cate, cowritten by Ian Shesunoff ’26, Aydin Barry ’27, and Tori Kim ’27. “Today, as wider ‘Ice Out’ strikes and protests sweep the nation, we invite all members of the community who feel disturbed, moved, or motivated by this nationwide crisis to join us in our schoolwide walkout. We ask that you approach this day with the productive intent to question, to discuss, and to unite around what brings us together, not apart. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere—left unchecked, it will be only a matter of time before escalation continues,” proclaimed Pari.
In classrooms and meeting spaces across the Mesa, students attended sessions that involved Harkness discussions, history and ethics lessons, and art-based reflection. Topics ranged from legal structures of immigration enforcement to the role of the media in shaping bias. In one such workshop led by English Instructor Brooks Hansen, a student observed, “If you are associated with a basic party, you are so often directed into political silos where they are feeding your own beliefs right back at you. When you do see the other side, it’s only when it’s infuriating you.” El Batidor, the student newspaper at Cate, captured the day through the lens of a journalist; read more here.
The day maintained a throughline of action through education. In a letter to families that afternoon, Head of School Alexandra Lockett reflected on the day as “not a departure from learning on the Mesa but rather its fullest expression,” emphasizing that the experience of learning at Cate isn’t bound to a single class or curriculum, but rather to the full range of expression and action ever grounded in service. Servons and inquiry converged in student action last week, and as their curiosity and exploration continue, what emerges is a willingness to think with depth and act with meaning.