Beyond Borders is a program that was founded by Carrie Ezzell, a Spanish teacher here at Bolles.
The program strives to bring more diversity to Bolles and to give the student body different voices. Ezzell was part of the original multicultural team at Bolles, and within her few years in that role and later a leadership position called the MLT Campus Lead. Her first priority was to launch a program to give the first-person perspective of the student body. She believed it could give great insight to adults, help foster cultural connections across campus, and bring connections from home life to school life.
“My hope is that it’s an outlet and a space where students feel safe to be themselves fully, whatever their identity,” said. Ezzell.
Students will be able to share cultural identities or aspects. They are not able to in other environments, and with this program, there is a very open-minded and nurturing community. Any sort of modern-day issues are up for discussion as long as they are communicated in a civil conversation, and that’s where the fostering community aspect comes with this program. With students being able to openly discuss things that are on their mind and debate among their peers about modern-day issues they feel are relevant, this allows the student body to have a very diverse set of opinions going into the adult world.
Beyond Borders member Eva Beardsley ‘28 says, “We’re shaping a better footprint for Bolles that will help everyone – in or out of Beyond Borders – become connected. Skills that will be learned and shared will not only benefit our school careers but also our entire futures.”
The first official meeting was on December 11, 2025. In this meeting, students discussed what diversity meant to them, what they believe is relevant to the conversation of diversity, and an overview of what the council is planning to do within the upcoming school year.
As a council member myself, I found the discussion very introspective, and it left me with more awareness of what it means to genuinely discuss different perspectives from your own. The addition of this club allows the student body to have a very beneficial and unique experience.
The next meeting was January 22, 2026. There was an icebreaker activity at this meeting, and students were asked to mark down on a timeline whenever they had felt different from others in their lives. With this emerged a discussion about different cultural identities, and how being different from your peers can isolate you. As a council member, hearing people discuss very similar experiences that I share offers a really great support system to the students.
Ezzell went further to bring more cultural diversity to the school, collaborating with the Black Student Union (BSU) for Black History Month. On February 20th, there was a speaker named Carla Jones, who is a black historian and storyteller. Additionally, there was be a Soulfood truck, and she hopes that all Beyond Borders members participate in this activity and program.
When looking for what kinds of students would be willing to participate in a council like this, Ezzell said that she really looked for passion towards fostering a new community and they’re not afraid to have uncomfortable conversations.
