Reflections of Havergal: 1994-2019

mission. Their efforts are guided by the Students Act Now program, which was created in 2009 and which provides the framework to continue the conversations, incubate the ideas, and coach students to determine the scope of their engagement. We help students define what success means to them. And we support them as they take risks trying something new. Inevitably, the process is not linear. It may involve the experience of failure, of redefining goals and of becoming more comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty … In 2012, The Institute created the Student Innovation Award to recognize the efforts of students “whose innovative thinking has had an impact on a social problem, a business problem or any other problem for which a novel solution can be found.” In its first year, the award was given to Julia Hou, Lucy Luo, Cynthia Zhou and Jennifer Chen for founding Wallet Farm.

Grade 12 student Rebecca Hoffer in the Students Act NOW program, 2013.

Another development is the Student Engagement Team, comprising a cross-section of administrators, faculty and staff whose goal is to support student learning beyond the classroom. Its purpose was explained by Leslie Anne Dexter, Head of Junior School, and Michael Simmonds, Head of Upper School, in the Spring 2014 Torch article “What Kind of World Do You Want?”: In determining what matters—what purpose student engagement serves—SET seeks to identify the lacuna inherent in each opportunity … In other words, SET aims to identify opportunities and initiatives for students that might fill in a piece that’s missing. In so doing, the team asks itself: does this initiative add value? And, if so, what is the unmet learning that will happen as a result of the initiative? What gap does this opportunity fill?

Supporting Action and Innovation Torch , Fall 2011 “It’s not just community involvement. Engaging is who I am.” — Shannon Flatley Shannon led the student-initiated Athletes in Motion (AIM), which launched in October 2009 as part of the school’s Students Act Now program.

Ideas in Action: Upper School and Junior School

As noted in an earlier chapter, Dr. Ditchburn wrote the following in the 2004 issue of the Chronicle : “Life lived fully is a journey of awakenings, and the most powerful often occur in circumstances in which our values and perceptions are shaken.” The truth of that observation

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