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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