Torch - Fall 2017

Forum for Change

Exploring the Brink of the Known Inspiring activist allies through local and global experience programming

By Melanie Belore

The Forum for Change is excited to announce a new partnership opportunity for Havergal’s ever-growing international excursion program—a cultural immersion in Cambodia, where students will learn about Khmer history and culture in a country where reverberations from a tumultuous past are still felt today. On this learning journey, students will have a chance to interact with a number of non-governmental organizations, social entrepreneurs and community leaders in order to explore different models of development work, discover their complexities and learn about both challenges and stories of success. This is not your typical spring break trip. Havergal believes in the value of travel and experiential learning. Our commitment to educating global citizens means young people today must learn to navigate a world of increasing complexity. Preparing young women to make a difference in this world requires we educate better leaders: fostering the skills, knowledge and critical consciousness necessary to negotiate privilege in ways that promote a more equitable world. But why a Forum for Change excursion? What sets these experiences apart from the many other providers purporting they can provide young people with opportunities that will change the world? We design our Forum for Change excursions with language and curriculum in mind and not as service to a country or people our students are unfamiliar with. Our Global Experience Program (GEP) excursions are designed to enable our students to better understand themselves and the lived realities of the people they encounter through peer-to-peer relationship building, cultural immersion and—when appropriate—shared project work. These experiences challenge students to tap into their empathic abilities, test their assumptions of the world in real time and collaborate with others who may hold very different perspectives to their own. We hope participants feel compelled to dig deep into the big issues of our time, consider their root causes and discover the problem rather than the solution. It requires them to become activist allies in global citizenship. Whether it be weekly volunteering at one of our local community partnerships, experiencing the daily rhythm of someone else’s life on exchange or choosing to be immersed in another culture on a March Break excursion, this experiential learning, intentional partnership approach helps students explore the brink of what they know about the world and how they might make an impact.

New this year, Senior School students can learn about Khmer history and culture during a cultural immersion in Cambodia. “ “ We hope participants feel compelled to dig deep into the big issues of our time, consider their root causes and discover the problem rather than the solution.

TABLE OF CONTENTS | FALL 2017 • TORCH 13