The advantages of learning and living in a culturally diverse community like Taft—where students hail from 52 different countries this year—are profound. 

"The cultural diversity in our student body is unprecedented," says Director of Admissions Peter Frew '75. "It reflects the deliberate efforts of our full Admissions team to build an intentionally diverse community of bright and talented young learners from across the globe. This type of diversity creates immeasurable advantages for all Taft students."

​Those advantages have allowed us to rethink and shape the way we teach in ways that enhance and deepen students learning. History Teacher Mark Traina notes that as our community became increasingly diverse and multicultural, he saw his role as a social sciences teacher at Taft undergo some fundamental changes.​​

"In the past, I presented information to students and formulated questions designed to help them think critically and craft thoughtful responses," says Traina. "Now my teaching is more focused on designing exercises that help students to collaborate, to understand their own biases, and to consider the varied perspectives of their classmates on a range of historical events or social issues. Our students listen carefully to one another, cultivate informed opinions, and ultimately build skills that will allow them to flourish in their learning and as citizens of the world."

And the advantages extend to less formal campus settings, as well. Interactions outside of the classroom in a diverse community like Taft help make students better scholars, thinkers, and citizens.

Now a Senior, Diana Braghis came to Taft from Moldova, in the northeastern corner of Europe's Balkan region. The cultural diversity Diana found at Taft has shaped her experience here, and broadened her educational worldview.

"I come from a demographically homogeneous country, so getting to meet and learn from people from all over the world challenged many of my preconceived opinions," Diana explains. "For me, discussions in English and History classrooms really reflect the diversity of perspectives that people from all over the world bring to Taft. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have learned more about how different cultural upbringings mark an individual's beliefs and how such beliefs are reflected in today's society."

By creating an intentionally diverse community, Taft is able to offer students almost unlimited opportunities to engage with and learn from people from different cultural, political, and socio-economic backgrounds and upbringings, leading to increased innovation and collaboration. As a result, Taft has become a forum for widely diverse points of view, and a laboratory for the exploration of global issues. 

"Being a global community opens up opportunities for students to gain an internal experience of different traditions, cultures and perspectives," says Anfisa Ljubcic, a senior from Moscow. "I am able to exchange opinions with people with hands-on experiences from different countries and corners of the world, all in this one community."

The benefits extend to all students, regardless of where they call home.

"At Taft, I am surrounded by people from across the globe," notes New Yorker Julian Prentice. "This allows me to not only see more perspectives, but to also gain an appreciation for many different cultures and to make friends in the dorm, the classroom, and on the soccer field or the tennis court."