Torch - Fall 2014

Institute at Havergal

C ourageous, innovative problem solvers who are ready to take on the world: this is the raison d’être of our student engagement programming. Havergal’s Global Experience Program, Students Act Now initiatives and various clubs and councils are but a few of the many programs and supports in place to enable our students to learn to lead in the world at—and beyond—Havergal. Our students have a long history of activism and community engagement. The 1941 issue of the Ludemus speaks of the sweaters, hats and pairs of socks knitted by the girls and sent to the troops fighting in World War II. In 1978, Mary Dennys (Havergal’s 6 th Principal) wrote: “…more than ever before, young people of today need to be flexible and adaptable, able to face challenges— and discouragement. It will be vitally important for you to have formulated your values and standards.” In our focus this year on moral courage, we are continuing Havergal’s long-time commitment to ethical action. What may be different now is that our students are, arguably, the first generation expected to address global problems. They are a generation that knows they must act. What they may not know is how much courage ethical action takes. Moral courage is doing the right thing in the face of your fears. The journey to moral courage is a journey to finding your own integrity. It is a journey of knowing yourself—in relation to others—and of taking values-based action aligned with what you find compelling, what matters to you and what makes you thrive. For students at Havergal, gutsy global citizenship forms the continuation of our work on enabling young women to make a difference through an approach that honours our shared humanity as people, our varied perspectives and our work done in partnership.

Being a gutsy global citizen means:

•  knowing yourself at least as much as knowing other people. Self-knowledge creates a culture that honours lived experience. It is the source of feeling your sense of agency, then acting on it. • being fearless about making arguments and questioning positions while being open to changing your mind. This is the central challenge of living ethically in a pluralistic era.

The Forum for Change serves as the hub of Havergal’s learning on moral courage. The Ready, Set, Dream: Building Gutsy Global Citizens workbook will be distributed to all students to support learning about their own values and what they stand for so that they can take ethical action. Through the Forum for Change in the Upper School and at Student Institute Team (SIT) meetings in the Junior School, our students will have the opportunity to identify what they care about and will have the time to work together to develop courageous conversations on change. They will be free to choose and discuss the issues that matter most to them, based on what they believe deserves and demands honest conversation in the school community. The intention is that these conversations will lead to ethical actions in the lives of students and the school. To learn about our students who are already engaged in courageous action, please see the Student Stories section of the Forum for Change web page at www.havergal.on.ca/forumforchange .

14  HAVERGAL COLLEGE