Last fall, we invited members of the community to learn more about our global citizenship programming here at ESD. The energy and stories from that night led to great questions and our desire to share with a wider audience. Echoing the final stanza of ESD’s Manifesto in both structure and intent, we began with examples of how our teachers strive to bring the world into their classrooms on a regular basis, using old-fashioned yet effective modes of communication, innovative technology, and visitors to enhance powerful lessons about the world, its people, and its cultures. Next, we presented some of our efforts to provide students with opportunities to work side by side with local students from diverse backgrounds as they develop cultural competence and empathy through real-world experiences. Our Spanish Learning Service Program, in its fifth year, has spread to three local schools and serves over 40 ESD students thanks to Marcela Garcini’s initiative and Antonia Moran’s vital support. We then revisited our ongoing efforts to bring global connections into the classroom through our partnership with MainSprings and its school in Tanzania. In its fourth year, this partnership has resulted in student-to-student correspondence, science-based curricular collaboration, and global teacher professional development on each school’s campus. While we strive to ensure that all ESD students have access to global programming that develops their awareness, knowledge, and skills, we also offer an array of options for each ESD student to move physically beyond our immediate community. To this end, we highlight Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder (SStS), which has become part of our ESD fabric, serving both students and teachers with opportunities throughout the United States and abroad. We end with a spotlight on one of our own Assistant Head of Middle School, Meg Fahrenbrook ’01, whose personal journey has taken her out of our classrooms to the halls of Wheaton College (IL), back to ESD and through key experiences with SStS, to her own nonprofit serving the medical needs of the people of Nepal.

We hope that you will be as inspired by these stories as we are and that you will join us for our next Global Night to hear from the students themselves about their involvement in these programs and how global programming at ESD transforms the way they see their place in the world.

We are preparing lives that will go out from the classroom,

Reach out to the community,

And stand out in the world.

Hear from students and faculty in this March 2020 magazine article Learn more about ESD's Global Citizenship Programming

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