The student team behind Picnic Day is looking on the bright side of things.
The event’s theme for 2021 — the second virtual Picnic Day in a row — will be “Silver Linings,” the eight-member board announced today (Dec. 18).
"We selected ‘Discovering Silver Linings’ because despite all that has happened this year, the UC Davis community has continued to find silver linings everywhere,” said Picnic Day Chair Caitlyn Liu. “Our campus is on a relentless pursuit to inspire hope and work toward a better and brighter tomorrow. With a virtual Picnic Day, current, prospective, and past Aggies, as well as Davis community members can attend Picnic Day no matter how near or far they are. I think that in itself is a silver lining.”
The marshals for the event will be faculty members Maisha and Torry Winn. They are co-directors and co-founders of the Transformative Justice in Education Center in the UC Davis School of Education. Maisha Winn is a professor and associate dean in the School of Education, and Torry Winn is an assistant professor of teaching.
They each received a Chancellor's Achievement Award for Diversity and Community in 2019 for their work with the center, which seeks to serve practitioners and researchers committed to disrupting social injustices in education by creating restorative, humanizing, justice-seeking teaching and learning communities. The center also engages with the student body, staff and faculty by hosting events, trainings and circles with the goal of broadening awareness of systemic racism and encouraging individuals to build community, through socially and culturally relevant dialogue.
“The Winns work to bring racial equity and transformative justice to our UC Davis community and inspire others to become social justice advocates along the way,” said Picnic Day Vice Chair Amanda Portier.
Picnic Day will be held on Saturday, April 17. More information about the event is available on the Picnic Day website.