Reflections of Havergal: 1994-2019

During my time in Iceland, I was certainly faced with many obstacles and pushed out of my comfort zone on a daily basis… Every difficult and unnerving moment added to the trip and changed me for the better.

Each year brings fresh opportunities for students (and the staff members who accompany them) to be travellers, to test themselves in unfamiliar territory. As noted by the heads of the Junior and Upper Schools, Leslie-Anne Dexter and Michael Simmonds, in the Fall 2015 edition of Torch : There [is] a wide range of excursions available at Havergal, including one-day field trips, partnership experiences at ArtHeart and Best Buddies, grade-wide outings like the Grade 9 trip to Algonquin Provincial Park … and the numerous trips on offer through the Institute at Havergal’s Global Experience Program in the Middle and Senior Schools. The authors make clear the rationale: “Excursions provide the real-world, unscripted experiences needed to rehearse and apply the values that underlie each girl’s unique leadership mindset and voice.” A look at Havergal’s website reveals the depth and range of the opportunities. There is even, as Stephanie Studer explained in BTI in September 2012, the chance to “journey to the centre of the earth.”: Last June, I along with ten other Havergal students and two teachers, took part in an excursion to the “land of fire and ice.” The two-week trip comprised of a five-night hiking and camping trip, many days exploring the city of Reykjavik, as well as snorkeling, white-water rafting, whale-watching and more. It was definitely a life- changing experience for me…

The Institute at Havergal

In the last 25 years, the educational landscape has changed significantly and sometimes in very surprising ways. A distinguishing feature of Havergal during these years has been its efforts to explain “the Havergal difference,” while resisting easy ways to categorize itself. That difference, however, became easier to articulate with the creation of The Institute at Havergal, one very significant outcome of Strategic Directions 2004–08 . As explained by Wendy Reid in “The Institute at Havergal College: Leadership through Challenge” in the Fall 2006 Torch , Bruce Mau, Havergal parent, Board member and internationally celebrated artist-designer, raised the pivotal question asked by Miss Knox, “What are you going to do?” and challenged the Board “to create a school-wide, long-term initiative that would define the school and help students to understand both the complexities of a rapidly changing contemporary world and their role as global citizens.” The result was the formation of The Institute, the inspiration of Mr. Mau and Havergal’s ninth principal, Dr. Susan Ditchburn, in collaboration with Havergal’s faculty and staff, as a way to enable the evolution of the school’s mission from community service to self-efficacy and global capability. Established in 2006, the Institute has become the vehicle through which the whole school builds upon its understanding of the world. (Torch, Spring 2011)

Iceland excursion, 2012.

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