Global Citizenship Sessions

Breakout Sessions

Collaboration and Partnerships: Local, National, and International as Drivers of School Improvement

From local and national links, such as the London Challenge, to international links with “sister schools” via the British Counsel, to trans-European projects that address difficult projects such as teenage radicalisation, to legal entities such as multi-academy trusts that formally bring groups of schools together, this session explains how great school cultures and dynamic school improvement is achieved through collaboration and partnership. The increasing multi academy trust movement in England, that is seeing schools being legally brought together, and good or outstanding schools sponsoring less effective schools. will be explored and its outcomes explained.

PRESENTERS: Sharon Cromie, Executive Headteacher/Co-President | Wycombe High School/Association of State Girls’ Schools (UK) and Sue Higgins, Director of Communications and Research | Association of State Girls’ Schools (UK)


Developing Global Leaders

Recipients of the 2017 Moulton Student Global Citizenship Grant, The Study faculty and students will describe our special Nicaragua project and how the entire school community has been involved in this unique activity. Students have the opportunity to witness, support and experience opportunities provided to young girls in this developing country. Through presentation and video, audience members will come to understand the project, take away ideas that will help them to develop global projects that go far beyond just raising money and see the reciprocal benefits of how helping others develops students’ own empathy, resilience and character.

PRESENTERS: Antonia Zannis, Deputy Head of School and Amalia Liogas, Director, IT | The Study (Canada)


Educating Vulnerable Girls: Lessons from West and East Africa

Leaders of Secondary Education for Girls’ Advancement (SEGA) in Tanzania and the NGO Touch the Sky Foundation in Sierra Leone, share perspectives from their work in reaching and educating vulnerable girls on opposide sides of Africa. Though vastly different contexts, their combined experiences offer useful lessons applicable to all programs seeking to improve the lives of vulnerable girls through education. Come to listen, discuss, and offer your own insights on this topic and share ideas for collaboration.

PRESENTERS: Susan Hannah, Board Member | Nurturing Minds and the SEGA Girls School (Tanzania) and Katherine Cassidy, Co-founder | Touch the Sky Foundation (Sierra Leone)


Exploring D.C.: An Integrated Service and Geography Curriculum

Finding powerful points of intersection between a community service program and a world geography class while forging relationships with local organizations takes learning beyond the classroom, provides a global context for local issues, and lends a human face to community service and geographic analysis. At the National Cathedral School, students explore the challenges and needs of the Washington community through spatial analysis, local case studies, urban field trips, and partnerships with local organizations including a charter school for girls and a grass roots organization that promotes racial and economic equity in the District’s rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods.

PRESENTERS: Mary DiQuinzio, Upper School Social Sciences Teacher and Nadirah Moreland, Director of Community Service | National Cathedral School (USA)


Global Competence through Global Community: International Outreach with Round Square

With our global society becoming increasingly interconnected and interdependent we are responsible for guiding students’ understanding of the world beyond national borders, their appreciation of diversity, sense of responsibility, and capacity for global citizenship. Through interaction and collaboration, Round Square’s international network of 180 schools in 50 countries brings the world to the classroom, connecting teachers and students in ways that promote lasting understanding, tolerance and respect between students from diverse countries and cultures. In this workshop a panel of RS school practitioners will discuss how they leverage interaction with counterparts worldwide to bring a global perspective to their curriculum.

PRESENTER: Rachael Westgarth, Chief Executive | Round Square (UK); Paul Burke, Head of School | The Nightingale-Bamford School (USA); Martha Perry, Principal | St. Clement’s School (Canada); and Nancy Richards, Head of School | St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School (Canada)


Global Partnerships Inspire Girls to Create Real World Solutions

Learn how Harpeth Hall uses its partnership with Lwala Community Alliance in Kenya to empower students to create innovative, collaborative solutions to challenges at home and around the world. Drawing on the Lwala connection, the Freedom School and the Water Project are two successive year-end projects that guide students to understand the importance of education and clean water to solve systemic problems. Projects utilize design thinking, cross-curricular collaboration, alternative scheduling, and digital portfolios. Learn the structure and design of these projects, and imagine how you can use this template to create projects connected to your school’s global relationships.

PRESENTERS: Anne Riegle, Middle School English Teacher; Garen Eadie, Middle School Social Sciences Teacher; and Fran Maddox, Middle School Coordinator of Service Learning and Public Purpose | Harpeth Hall School (USA)


Inspiring Women’s Global Agency Through International Collaborative Partnerships

This session will discuss the five-year collaborative partnership between our school and a girls’ school in South Africa (The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls). With a particular focus on international women’s leadership, this program, called SISTERS (Strengthening International Sisterhood Through Education, Relationship-building and Service), aims to provide students with a platform for engaging in meaningful collaborative activities with the goal of cultivating rich cultural understanding, global empathy and a collective sense of responsibility for one another and for the world. Though the initial work between the two schools began as an online collaboration, over the years this relationship has blossomed, resulting in professional development exchanges and curriculum sharing between teachers, and for students–participation in shared service projects, the creation of an international book club, gallery shows featuring SISTER school artwork, and travel overseas to meet and work together in person.

PRESENTERS: Heather Panahi, Social Studies Educator and Model UN Coach | Dana Hall School (USA) and Thomas Tervit, Senior History Teacher | Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (South Africa)


International Development and Alumnae Relations: How to get it Right the First Time

Are you ready to go global? The work of international development and alumnae relations largely falls into two categories: those that have integrated international opportunities and priorities into its core mission and business activity, or the going-global organization, which recognizes the opportunities available and expresses a general commitment to strengthening its international reach, but has yet to fully embed this goal into the heart of the organization. We will begin with an interactive session that will help determine which organizational structure you fall into. Key questions will focus on the maturity of your advancement program, your institutional vision, and existing borderless engagement opportunities. Next, we will present ways you can avoid “Development Tourism” and instead focus on the defining characteristics of a truly global program that aligns with your domestic fundraising program and goals. This focuses on prospect research, the international student experience, and mapping connections and interests of internationally mobile faculty and administrators.

PRESENTERS: Elizabeth Zeigler, President and CEO | Graham-Pelton (USA) and Victoria McAlpine, Senior Consultant | Graham-Pelton (UK)


Leadership through Purposeful Travel

Strong leadership combines knowledge, experience, vision, and inspiration. The interconnectedness of today’s world demands leaders who are not only versed in the culture of the people they lead, but who have a genuine understanding of other cultures, other ways of interacting, and the value that diverse perspectives bring to decisions driving industry, education, and government. If purposefully structured, travel provides more than exposure to cultures, history, and language; it fosters consciousness, empathy, independence, respect, presentation skills, and a broader mindset. Hear how one school partnered with ACIS to further enhance their Global Competence Initiative to develop a leadership mindset in young women.

PRESENTERS: Mary Claire Kasunic, President and Cindy McNulty, Teacher; Director of GCI | Oakland Catholic High School (USA) and Julie Fratarcangeli, Director-International Program Development | American Council on International Studies (ACIS) (USA)


Managing the Risks of Global Education

We understand the value for our students in experiential, off-campus learning, both locally and around the world. But how do we best manage the inherent risk involved? How do we help teachers and parents understand risk and liability? Is your school up to speed on current issues in risk management? How do we design programs with the wellness of our girls at the forefront? How do we balance our value on inclusion and equity with learning in more traditional communities? Through the Global Education Benchmark Group’s network, this panel has gathered some of the thought leaders in the field to share both their expertise and their school-based examples.

PRESENTERS: Joe Vogel, Director/Executive Director | Institute for 21st Century Learning, Hathaway Brown School/The Global Education Benchmark Group (USA); Bill Frederick, Founder and Principal | Lodestone Safety International (USA); Seth Leighton, Executive Director | Envoys (USA); and Clare Sisisky, Director, Institute for Responsible Citizenship | Collegiate School


Me, You, and Us: How Identity Exploration Enhances Service, Engagement, and Partnership Programs

The National Network of Schools in Partnership will host a panel discussion covering the role service learning/community engagement/partnership programs can have in the ongoing diversity and inclusion work of schools. Through examples provided by the Hockaday School and Nightingale-Bamford, attendees will hear ways in which strong public-private partnerships, reflective conversations and critical service learning help bridge gaps within school communities. This work also has significant impact in the greater communities where students live, serve, and learn.

PRESENTERS: Blake Kohn, Executive Director | National Network of Schools in Partnership (USA); Damaris  Maclean, Director of Community Engagement and Service Learning | Nightingale-Bamford (USA); and Laura Day, Director of Service Learning | Hockaday School (USA)


Opening a New School: The Public/Private Partnership

How do Public-Private partnerships come to fruition and continue to provide quality education to young women in the most needed areas? This session will explore how private support can support and enhance public single-gender education, from the planning stages and beyond.

PRESENTERS: Delia McLerran, Principal | Young Women’s Leadership Academy (USA) and Malinda Villalobos, Principal | Young Women’s Leadership Academy (USA)


Partnerships Create S’more STEAM Scholars

The idea that Dallas ISD would create an all girls public school focused on STEAM was interesting enough, but to create a deliberate space where teachers delivered Girl Scouts during the school day was incredibly innovative. After 10 months of collaboration, Solar Prep Elementary opened in August 2016 with each girl in the school a member of Girl Scouts. Come learn from Girl Scouts and Solar Prep as we dive into the key elements for creating similar partnerships including challenges, benefits, success metrics and year 2 insights. In addition, we will discuss the national significance of local school partnerships.

PRESENTERS: Ashley Crowe, VP Girl Experience | Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas  (USA); Andrea Bastiani Archibald, Ph.D., Chief Girl & Family Engagement Officer | Girls Scouts of the USA (USA); and Olivia Santos, Instructional Coach | Dallas ISD Solar Preparatory School for Girls (USA)


Pathway to Global Citizenship: How the Principles of Sacred Heart Education Inform our Practices as Educators

The Network of Sacred Heart Schools is an association of Catholic, independent schools acting in the cooperation with the Society of the Sacred Heart to advance a shared mission, articulated in the five Goals and Criteria. Global in nature, Sacred Heart schools are affiliated with colleagues in 41 countries across the globe. For more than 200 years, the timeless principles articulated in the Goals and Criteria have endured while the context of the world within which they operate has changed. This panel will explore how Sacred Heart educators live out these goals and their subsequent criteria in their own unique context and approach to education with girls to be global citizens.

PRESENTERS: Lyana Fernandez Azan, English Department Chair | Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart (USA); Sally Sharp, Head of Student Life | Sacred Heart Schools (USA); Nicole Noel, Assistant Head of Upper School | Newton Country Day School (USA); Suzanne Cooke, RSCJ, Head | Conference of Sacred Heart Education (USA); and Claire Lorentzen, Director of Mission Communications | Conference of Sacred Heart Education (USA)


INSPIRE! Sessions

Building Global Citizenship through Strategic Partnerships

Capitalizing on a network of like-minded schools, Ursuline Academy has built their global education program to develop each of its PreK-12 students into a global leader by thoughtfully programming opportunities to connect both virtually and through exchange. Dig deeply into the specific initiatives and processes used to build this program from the ground up and walk away with tangible resources to create these opportunities in your own school.

PRESENTER: Amanda Neill, Director of Teaching, Learning and Global Leadership | Ursuline Academy (USA)


The Children’s Literature Project: Using Design Thinking and Social Justice in Girls’ Education to Leverage a Partnership with Children Experiencing Homelessness

We will begin with an introduction to our partnership, to girls’ education and intrinsic motivation, to the design thinking process we use, and to the Children’s Literature Project in particular. Participants will then engage in an interactive design thinking activity to better understand it as a practical tool across the curriculum and in community partnerships. Next we showcase the Children’s Literature Project as a model lesson plan, complete with take-home materials, resources, sample children’s books, and differentiated assessment guides. The session will close with a discussion about how the Therapeutic Child Care Center has measured the success of the partnership, and what next steps we are taking for girls’ education and children experiencing homelessness.

PRESENTERS: Katie Turner, High School English Teacher | Academy of Our Lady of Peace High School (USA)


Embracing the Challenge: Creating Mission-Driven Global Programming

Are their aspects of your mission that are not being met? Creating bold, ethical, global citizens who will shape a changing world is a daunting task. In 2014, we embarked on this ambitious endeavor. We discovered that in order to provide a fully-funded, international immersion experience for every student, we needed to spearhead institution-wide collaboration and build an established global partnership network. This program needed to be sustainable, cost-neutral to families, and mission-driven. Join us to learn about our process, our growing pains, the model we’ve developed, and the global competency curriculum that guides the student experience.

PRESENTERS: Sophie Paris, Director, Institute for Global Education and Susan Martell Jenkin, Director of Equity and Inclusion | Miss Porter’s School (USA)


Embracing Young Women’s Hearts to Make a Difference

For 45 years, a group of teachers has been educating 1,144 graduates who now travel the world wearing a badge as a legacy of the training received by an educational institution located in Cartagena, Colombia known as Aspaen Gimnasio Cartagena de Indias. It is in the affective formation of these students that a significant difference has been made. The social character of the graduates has been greatly influenced by the formation of a warm open heart that strengthens the virtue of leaving one´s own self to be considerate and open towards others while possessing strong values and leadership skills. In this session, directed to educators and leaders, we will share this good practice through testimonies, interviews, the program, the methodology implemented with students, and their success as graduates.

PRESENTER: Alexandra Sarabia Cabrales, Alumni, Promotion, and Image Coordinator  | Aspaen Gimnasio Cartagena de Indias (Colombia)


Gators Go Global

Laurel School’s Gators Go Global initiative works to broaden our Primary curriculum. Each year, faculty choose different locations for the Primary girls to “travel to.” They plan activities for the girls to explore these destinations through different disciplines—dance, music, food, art, science, etc. In this way, girls have learned about Jamaica, Brazil & India. This year’s destination was Ghana, and the theme led to a service initiative to support an organization that sends bikes to girls in Ghana. We hope to expand our girls’ geographical knowledge as well as spark their curiosity about people and places around the world, while also providing opportunities for our faculty to expand their knowledge and to work outside their discipline.

PRESENTER: Bella Patel, Director of Global Programming; Associate Director of the Primary School | Laurel School (USA)


An Ideal Academia and Private Company Partnership: The Emerging Role of Consulting in EdTech

Educational technology (edtech) is a niche field. Schools can and should outsource edtech work to companies that specialize in this niche and can readily deploy trained and highly effective professionals. By leveraging the private sector, academic leadership no longer needs to worry about training and staffing edtechs without a significant cost difference. Strategic EdTech (SET) a private consulting firm and Commonwealth Academy an independent grade 3-12 school have come together to redefine how we view and implement edtech professionals. This session describes the new model, the benefits, and how schools can redefine their own specialized edtech practices.

PRESENTERS: Urvi Morrison, CEO & Founder | Strategic EdTech (SET) (USA) and Peri-Anne Chobot, Head of School | Commonwealth Academy (USA)


Invisible Issues: Addressing Humanitarian Crises through Interdisciplinary Learning

Invisible Issues engages students in raising awareness and solving issues of social injustice. Students simulate the creation of nonprofit organizations focused on addressing issues of human suffering in local, national or global communities. Student work includes drafting grant proposals, developing budgets, creating mission statements and developing marketing and design elements of their organizations. The project concludes with presentations to both a panel of experts and the student body. The teams compete for real grant money to be donated to a nonprofit similar to the one they created. Invisible Issues can be used as an in-class project or an extracurricular activity.

PRESENTERS: Nicole Johnston, Upper School History Teacher and Jennifer Landis, Upper School Division Head | Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child (USA)


Launching Learning Through Relationships and Reputation

The students at the Ysleta Young Women’s Leadership Academy benefit from professional mentorships with several community partners. Our school as an unique master schedule that supports enrichment opportunities through the school day where girls have access to flexible learning activities. Come learn how we leverage time to  embrace networking with our El Paso community.

PRESENTER: Malinda Villalobos, Principal | Young Women’s Leadership Academy (USA)


Middle School Girls Really Can Change the World

In 2012, the Westridge School “Water Warriors” started their own advocacy group which grew out of an interdisciplinary unit focusing on water. Today, in partnership with H2O for Life, the Water Warriors have built over 13 clean water systems at schools in the developing world. As a result, our girls have learned to exercise power and agency to effect change both locally and globally. Come and learn about our journey to develop a middle school program that raises awareness, inspires social justice, and empowers young women in the 21st century. Course materials will be shared.

PRESENTERS: Gigi Bizar, Cultural Studies & Human Behavior Teacher and John Cross, English Teachers | Westridge School for Girls (USA)


Programming Continuum: 6th-12th

In this session, participants will learn about ways to engage students in the 6th-12th grade via programming that prepares them to be college ready.

PRESENTERS: Yahaira Gil Maestro, Associate Director, Girls’ Education and Rachel Jones, Girls’ Education Program Manager | Young Women’s Leadership Network  (USA)


Savvy and Skeptical: Teaching Students to be Tactical Media Consumers

Caught between truth and fiction in a media saturated culture, teachers can help young women find their political voices by becoming informed consumers of the news. Learn to engage students in civic life with empathy and courage using strategies that teach the difference between sound journalism and misinformation. Main objectives include: (1) Gain an essential understanding of journalism and government regulation of the media; (2) Learn tips and strategies for teaching students to recognize misleading and outright false news stories and information; and (3) Utilize our clearinghouse of websites that can provide practice and tools to arm students in seeking truth and scholarly information.

PRESENTERS: Jamie Bowling, History and Social Studies Teacher and Grace Burns, History and Social Studies Teacher | Saint Gertrude High School (USA)


Why and How we Ground Service Work in Equity: Two Schools’ Experiences and a Dialogue about Programming

This session will present thoughts about the importance of integrating our service and equity work, drawing on dynamic service/equity partnerships that have been beta-tested at the Nightingale-Bamford School and the Spence School. Examples will include Spence’s Anti-Bias and Community Frameworks in the Lower School, Nightingale’s Middle School/Upper School partnership with the Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem, and Spence’s English elective on Immigration that focuses on identity development. We will also talk about developing programming to open dialogue with attendees about the potential power of this approach.

PRESENTERS: Damaris Maclean, Director of Community Engagement & Service Learning  | The Nightingale-Bamford School (USA) and Rebecca Hong, Director of Institutional Equity  | The Spence School (USA)