Reflections on Global Awareness - Beyond the 'Feel Good'
It's been a great month of speakers and activities here at Swain during the month of April. Lower school students heard two fantastic individuals speak about their work with underserved children. Dr. Chris Kovats-Bernat, an  anthropologist from Muhlenberg, talked about his time with street kids in Haiti, emphasizing that "people are more same than different."
Dr. Jay Talsania, a well-known hand surgeon in the Lehigh Valley, shared reflections about his medical missions to Guatemala. His eighth grade daughter Brooke joined him on his most recent mission, spending time with the children who were waiting for and recovering from Dr. Talsania's services.
Middle school students heard three very different people talk about their experiences from around the world. Mr. Joe Yannuzzi shared his beautiful photos and amazing stories about his 29,000 foot trip up the side of Mt. Everest in 2008. Mr. Yannuzzi - one of only about 1,000 people in the world to summit Mt. Everest - has since returned to that area and built two libraries for children who previously had no books.
 Mr. Laurence Birdsey - a 1996 Swain alum - visited Middle School Town Meeting in mid-April and presented his work with Bilingual Education in Central America (BECA), an organization that he joined several years ago after a short but uninspiring stint working in the financial district in New York. After teaching in one of BECA's schools in Honduras, he now serves as Executive Director of the organization.
Finally, Mr. Chris Tompkins - husband of middle school teacher Mrs. Kate Tompkins and Head of School at Perkiomen - spoke about his experiences as a Board Member at the Cloud Forest school in Costa Rica, a school that has a unique and cutting edge environmental education curriculum.
In addition, last week's fourth annual Earth Day was celebrated with speeches and activities, community service was performed, and various lessons surrounding the concept of global awareness were played out in classrooms from our youngest to oldest.
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More importantly than simply listing events and speakers, it's crucial to take a few moments and reflect on the why. Raising global citizens is certainly a buzz phrase that most independent schools worth their salt will list somewhere in their literature, but what does it mean for our students, in this time and place?
On the surface, the take-away lesson might be to help those in need. It is vital that we are raising children who recognize deficit (of any kind) around the world and then figure out how to contribute toward a solution.
Additionally, though, the idea of raising global citizens is about engagement and collaboration. Helping kids understand that there are people in the world who deserve assistance is one thing - and that is a very important and noble idea that we must always pursue - but educating students to be engaged in society and collaborate with various communities are possibly even more sustaining ideas.
Engagement is a word we often use in describing the goals of our curriculum at Swain. Defined, it means to occupy the attention and efforts of a person. In practice, it's a concept that any teacher or coach pursues with passion. Learning is sometimes about retaining a body of information, but learning is mostly about rolling up your sleeves and getting involved with ideas and thoughts. Bringing speakers on campus who have spent their lives engaging with people from around the world serves as an example for our students.
In other words, we did not bring in a person  who built libraries for underserved children in Asia because we want our children to build libraries in Asia, although that would be fabulous. The power in a speaker such as Joe Yannuzzi is that he serves as an example of what it means to be engaged with humanity; he rolled up his sleeves, got to know his Sherpa, and followed a passion. When students are engaged in curriculum or in world issues such as energy or health care, there is no ceiling in terms of the development of their ideas.
The other concept underneath raising global citizens is the idea that communities are intertwined. As Reverend Gregory Edwards (Director/Pastor of Resurrected Life Academy and Church in Allentown) put it in a speech he delivered at Swain this past spring, the welfare of the entire community is grounded in the welfare of each part of the community.
For towns and cities to grow and prosper, true collaboration must be present. There must be an exchange of ideas between folks of different backgrounds and opinions, because the best solutions come when people work together. Simply put, outreach into the community must serve the purpose of exploring ideas, and it cannot just be one group providing for another group. When Swain students work in the community, the purpose must be meaningful and thoughtful - it cannot simply be a 'feel good' activity. Diving deeper, just because somebody lives differently than you does not mean they need or want your help. We must have these conversations with children.
 Each individual who spoke during our Global Awareness Month served as a great example of engagement and true community building. All of their stories are interesting and important, and the work they have done on behalf of mankind is powerful and admirable.
As we reflect on our world and the challenge of raising global citizens, I encourage you to dialogue with your child (or your child's friends, or your friend's child) about becoming an engaged community builder. Raising global citizens might indeed be a fancy phrase that schools like Swain use in their publications, but - in today's changing world - is there a concept more important?
Book Recommendations
Beatrice and Virgil, by Yann Martel. A unique novel that intertwines three stories regarding the Holocaust. Martel is the author of the award winning Life of Pi.
Room, by Emma Donoghue. A brilliantly written novel about the haunting journey of a five year-old boy and his mother. Published in 2010.
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Thanks for reading, and I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather. Hope to see you at one of our many upcoming events this May! The Swain School 1100 South 24th Street Allentown, PA 18103 610-433-4542 www.swain.org
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