From Allies into Action: A Long Talk at New Hampton School

What does it look like to be an ally?

For Kyle Williams, founder and chief empowerment officer of A Long Talk, the answer is simple: action.

"Being an ally is not a frame of mind," Williams told New Hampton faculty and students. "Allies, action."

That idea was at the heart of a day of learning and conversation at New Hampton, as Williams worked with faculty and students to build practical skills for navigating difficult conversations, challenging assumptions, and creating a community where people feel responsible for what happens around them.

Williams, a lifelong educator and social justice advocate with more than 25 years of experience in education, began the day with faculty before leading a student session later that morning. New Hampton is partnering with A Long Talk throughout the school year, including additional advisory work and faculty professional development sessions in the winter and spring.

From furious to curious

Williams' approach starts with a shift: from furious to curious.

When we hear something that feels wrong, hurtful, or simply unfamiliar, our first instinct may be to react—to argue, correct, or shut down the conversation. Williams challenged students and faculty to try something different: pause, listen, and get curious about what the person actually means.

That does not mean allowing harmful comments to pass without response. In fact, Williams emphasized the opposite. The goal is to interrupt the normalcy of comments that might otherwise "slide by," while creating an opening for a more meaningful conversation.

His framework, the CPR Protocol, gives students and adults a simple way to do that:

Clarify. Probe. Redirect.

First, clarify: What do you mean by that?

Then probe: Where did that idea come from? How do you think that makes someone else feel?

Finally, redirect: What could you say or do differently?

The questions are intentionally simple. Their power comes from slowing down the conversation. Instead of immediately arguing against someone's statement, the listener asks the speaker to examine their own words and assumptions. Williams described it as moving from arguing a point to examining it.

And that takes practice.

Williams modeled the process through role-play with faculty in an early-morning session and students during a school meeting. The conversation ultimately created an opportunity for the role-player to choose a different response—to recognize the impact of the comment and consider a more constructive way to interact.

Williams was clear that this approach is not about winning an argument or forcing someone to change their mind. It is about creating enough space for people to think more critically about what they believe, where those beliefs come from, and how their words affect others.

Making room for questions

Curiosity also begins with recognizing our own limitations.

Williams challenged us to consider how much each of us simply does not know. In a world where information is constantly available—and where algorithms, short-form media, and misinformation can reinforce what we already believe—critical thinking requires more than finding an answer. It requires asking where information came from, considering other perspectives, and being willing to say, "I don't know; tell me more."

"Listen more than you talk," Williams encouraged the group, emphasizing that genuine curiosity requires giving another person room to explain.

That practice can change the culture of a classroom or community. When we learn that a problematic comment will not simply be ignored, we also learn that we have agency in shaping the spaces we share. The goal is not to make students responsible for every difficult situation, nor to eliminate the role of adults. Rather, it gives young people a vocabulary and a set of practiced behaviors for taking responsibility for their community.

For Williams, that is where allyship becomes real. Sometimes doing something means asking a question. Sometimes it means listening. Sometimes it means redirecting a conversation or offering another perspective. And sometimes, particularly when a student is being harmed, it means an adult needs to step in. The common thread is that we do not simply notice what is happening and move on.

Believing in our community

This sense of responsibility carried into the afternoon, when students and faculty participated in service learning with community partners across the region.

Service was not the entirety of the day's lesson, but it offered a natural place to put the larger ideas into practice. At the beginning of the day, New Hampton faculty framed service as an opportunity to become more thoughtful, courageous, and responsible members of a community.

That means approaching service not simply as something we do for others, but as an opportunity to listen, learn and participate in the communities of which we are a part.

The same questions that can change a difficult conversation can also change how we approach service: What am I assuming? What do I not know? What can I learn from the people around me? What does this community actually need? And, after today, what responsibility do I have to keep paying attention?

New Hampton asks students to make it meaningful—not simply by understanding what matters, but by developing the courage and agency to act. A Long Talk offers students and faculty another set of tools for that work: to listen more closely, ask better questions, interrupt what should not be allowed to become normal, and recognize that a community's culture is built by the choices its members make every day.

Becoming skilled at these conversations does not happen all at once. It takes practice. And perhaps that is the point. We do not become thoughtful, courageous, and responsible community members simply by being told to be those things. We become them by practicing what those values look like—in our classrooms, in our houses, in our conversations, in our service, and in the moments when it would be easier to say nothing.

That is work worth practicing together.