GREETINGS,
Global education is a popular term in our increasingly interconnected world. At Christchurch School, we strive to prepare positive, valuable global citizens. Since reimagining our program a decade ago, our private school curriculum has provided an integrated place-based education that produces students who are ready to engage with and understand people and place. Our teachers deliver dynamic learning experiences that relate to what’s going on in our world today. Our Global Education Program rests on and contributes back to a strong foundation.
At the core of what we do, our community, comprised of both boarding school students and day school students, has built deep relationships with communities around the world. Rather than study or try to impact places from the outside, we seek to collaborate with people in distant corners of the world and to understand unique communities through real relationships and experiences. We know that the safest way to travel is to know where you are going intimately and to have people in those places who know and support us. We recognize that our teachers can do more with the connections we have when they foster them themselves. We believe that our curriculum can do more when we build internal resources to support it.
As you consider Christchurch School, I encourage you to see that the way we are doing things is just as important as the the list of things we are doing. The ways in which our program builds on itself are essential and really intentional. Understanding Global Education, for instance, requires you to understand what goes on in classrooms and on playing fields everyday. That’s unique.
Please be in touch if you have questions about what we are doing. I can be reached by e-mail (aalter@christchurchschool.org) and am always happy to schedule an in-person visit or a phone conversation.
Sincerely,
Aaron Alter
Global Ed
ASPIRATION
As a community, whether boarding school students or day school students, we aspire to be aware of and actively engaged with the international community. To this end, we are committed to building curricular and co-curricular programs that foster a global understanding of learning and living.
SUMMARY OF THE PROGRAM
Unique Experiences Around the World
All of our Global Education experiences are designed in-house. We use authentic relationships with communities and knowledge of places to build a framework for valuable student-driven learning. Over time, each trip to a specific destination is different than the one to the same destination the year before. Students and teachers actively shape what we do and the communities we visit are dynamic and changing. The relevant issues vary. Put simply, no other program is like ours because the core of what we do is specific to us.
Trips Throughout the Year
We offer trips throughout the year to make it possible for all students to participate regardless of other obligations or personal focuses. For example, this year we are offering:
Thanksgiving Break - Senegal Trip (an exploration of West Africa’s most stable country, with emphasis on the Mandinka experience across time, sustainable development, and environmental issues)
Spring Break - India Trip (an adventure along the Ganges - we will explore the watershed of the Ganges from its headwaters in the high Himalayas to its floodplain, where hundreds of millions of people live)
Post-Graduation - Guatemala Trip (Spanish language learning, an investigation of the impacts of the civil conflict, the chance to learn about life in Guatemala for different aspects of society, and an exploration of environmental issues) & China Trip (Chinese language learning, time to compare Beijing and Shanghai, and an introduction to modern Chinese history and rapid economic growth)
Value Beyond Travel
We actively support independent projects, student research, classroom content, and curricular engagement that extends beyond our relatively short time abroad. Our relationships with the world allow it to live within the white fences. During four years with us, students can have impactful experiences that relate to and support much of what they’re learning and doing day-to-day. A trip to Senegal as a 9th grader can relate to a class that in turn inspires a student to travel to India, where he or she works towards an independent project. As a private school, we commit resources to making these connections and supporting deep, rigorous, relevant student learning.
"Experience, travel - these are an education in themselves." - Euripides
CHECK OUT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT VARIOUS TRIPS AND EXPERIENCES. VISIT THE GLOBAL ED BLOG!
