Global Engagement

Be it in the classroom or out in the field, the goal of our global education program is to instill in our students the competencies of a globally engaged citizen — one who is empathic, self-aware, able to connect across differences and understand multiple perspectives. The telos of acquiring such skills and traits is to practice responsible global citizenship by taking action on issues of equity and sustainability.

The CCE provides experiential learning that empowers students to become engaged global citizens.

Every year the CCE facilitates three to four global education study-travel programs. These trips are designed to foster deep reflection and community engagement at three levels: local, national, and global. We work hard to craft learning opportunities that aren’t available to the casual traveler, often forgoing popular tourist destinations to prioritize conversations with local activists and experts.

As part of our commitment to equity and inclusion, the CCE provides substantial financial aid to make these programs accessible to all students. We are able to offer aid to any student receiving tuition assistance once per division. We also support individual student travel through the Falik Fund for International Study Travel.

Spotlight: Global Engagement Initiatives

Global Education Trips for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021

Due to Covid-19, we have suspended our study-travel programming for both 2019-20 and 2020-21.

Before the onset of Covid, the CCE had been poised to run the following three programs for Winter and Spring 2020 — trips we hope to offer again once global travel is safe:

Refugee Migration: Oakland, CA and Lesvos, Greece (for Upper School Students)
Economic Growth and Sustainability: Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, & Oakland (for Upper School Students)
California Marine Ecology: Channel Islands & the Bay (for Middle Schoolers)

Though we are currently unable to take students into the field for experiential learning, the goals that all these programs embody are woven throughout our curriculum in myriad ways by educators in every division.

Global Education Mission Statement

HEAD-ROYCE SCHOOL’S GLOBAL EDUCATION MISSION

As a founding member of the Global Education Benchmark Group, Head-Royce believes that Global Education develops the knowledge, skills, and empathic orientation required to understand multiple perspectives and to thrive in increasingly interconnected world systems. A global citizen acts to promote the common good locally, nationally, and internationally.

We believe this work of Global Education is deeply aligned with the School’s dedication to sustainability, equity, and civic engagement, and that the most meaningful Global Education occurs at the intersection of these initiatives.

With these goals in mind, Head-Royce works to advance Global Education through our curriculum, study travel experiences, and institutional partnerships.

The Black Experience in America: Washington, D.C.

“The Black Experience in America” — a Middle School program led by the CCE and Envoys in April 2019 — focused deeply on how Black history and experiences in this country relate to the national narratives we tell about citizenship, rights, and belonging.

Before traveling to D.C., the cohort first explored Black activism in Oakland by meeting with Ericka Huggins, the longest serving female leader of the Black Panther Party.

While in D.C., the students discussed the importance of activism with the local Black Lives Matter chapter; they held a design competition for a monument they thought to be missing from the National Mall; they visited the Museum of African American History and Culture and Howard University; and they learned about the challenges of gentrification while touring the historic Anacostia neighborhood. Each day this program asked our students to consider both the consequences of the past and the role they themselves can play in building a more just and equitable future.

To learn more about this CCE program, see the Community Engagement Issue of Head-Royce School Magazine, page 34.

Landscapes of Home: The Global Challenge of Housing

“Landscapes of Home: the Global Challenge of Housing” — a study-travel program for our juniors and seniors — was led by the CCE and Atlas Workshops in April 2019. This study travel experience featured an intensive comparative case study of housing crises in three cities: Oakland, Prague, and Berlin.

Our two days investigating the housing crisis in Oakland served as a springboard for our subsequent explorations of Prague and Berlin, where students questioned how gentrification, government policy, local history, and other factors shaped each city’s responses to housing shortages.

Here were some of the students take-aways from the program…

To learn more about this CCE program, see the Community Engagement Issue of Head-Royce School Magazine, page 38.

Of Cuba and Connections

In February 2019, Upper School students embarked on a study travel program called “Of Cuba and Connections,” where they considered identity formation on both the personal and national level.

Before leaving Oakland, students identified and worked to complexify their expectations and assumptions about Cubans. During the trip, they met with many Cubans––spanning the gamut from school children to retirees, often speaking in Spanish––to gather oral narratives they later compared to U.S. and Cuban government histories. In homestays, students learned about Cuban culture from within the family unit, and then rejoined the larger group to visit sites like the Museo de la Revolución and Finca Vigía (Ernest Hemingway’s home).

*Conversations with Peers in Havana, Cuba*

To learn more about this CCE program, see the Community Engagement Issue of Head-Royce School Magazine, page 36.

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