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Making an Argument for Club Life

            I returned to Upper School Assembly this past Monday to learn about amazing results from a few of our clubs. In particular, I was struck that just a few years ago we had no mock trial, model UN, or debate team in our Upper School. Now these clubs have become essential student-driven initiatives within the Berwick experience. We learned that our Mock Trial team has grown to twenty students and fought all the way to the finals against reigning champion Cape Elizabeth. Apparently we took them to a three – three tie and lost in a devastating tie-breaker. Hearing the students report back about the experience made it clear how deeply they cared about this. Amory Mansfield, the group’s advisor, mentioned that the quality of the competition was equal to collegiate and graduate school efforts that the judges had seen in the past.

Mock Trial Team at the State Championship 

            This year, we are also seeing our first formalized debate team in the Upper School. This group has been competing admirably at a number of competitions in the state of Maine. With the assistance of Assistant Upper School Director, Ted Smith, a few students have taken this initiative on their own back and willed a Berwick squad into existence. Given how new this program is at this point, I think we have reason to be excited about their future.

            And finally, perhaps our most robust “argument” activity has been the Model U.N., spearheaded by our Director of Innovation, Darcy Coffta. For a number of years, these students have been traveling to colleges and universities to compete while also staging debates in front of our Upper School Assembly. These students are often forced into the role of defending the interests of other countries, making them build skills of logic and oral expression while generating cultural empathy through the process.


            All three of these activities help build 21st Century Skills for our students through the fostering of critical thinking, creativity, and all different kinds of sophisticated oral expression. These are challenges that are applied to real world situations and thus feel incredibly relevant to our students. In the context of Berwick, it is amazing that these are all clubs – students use a bit of time during the academic day to get organized but most of their preparation happens outside of business hours. All participants continue to take full course loads and athletic schedules, while a number of their public school competitors have classes during the day as being part of these teams. Finally, no one ever told our students we needed to develop these particular clubs; five years ago none of them existed at Berwick. It reminds me that when the adults in the community can truly listen and support rather than dictate – our students will inspire us by doing amazing things.

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