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HAVERGAL COLLEGE
C
ourageous, innovative problem solvers who are ready to take on
the world: this is the
raison d’être
of our student engagement
programming. Havergal’s Global Experience Program, Students Act
Now initiatives and various clubs and councils are but a few of the
many programs and supports in place to enable our students to learn
to lead in the world at—and beyond—Havergal.
Our students have a long history of activism and community
engagement. The 1941 issue of the
Ludemus
speaks of the sweaters,
hats and pairs of socks knitted by the girls and sent to the troops
fighting in World War II. In 1978, Mary Dennys (Havergal’s
6
th
Principal) wrote: “…more than ever before, young people of
today need to be flexible and adaptable, able to face challenges—
and discouragement. It will be vitally important for you to have
formulated your values and standards.”
In our focus this year on moral courage, we are continuing Havergal’s
long-time commitment to ethical action. What may be different now
is that our students are, arguably, the first generation expected to
address global problems. They are a generation that knows they
must act. What they may not know is how much courage ethical
action takes.
Moral courage is doing the right thing in the face of your fears. The
journey to moral courage is a journey to finding your own integrity.
It is a journey of knowing yourself—in relation to others—and of
taking values-based action aligned with what you find compelling,
what matters to you and what makes you thrive. For students at
Havergal, gutsy global citizenship forms the continuation of our
work on enabling young women to make a difference through an
approach that honours our shared humanity as people, our varied
perspectives and our work done in partnership.
The Forum for Change serves as the hub of Havergal’s learning on
moral courage. The
Ready, Set, Dream: Building Gutsy Global Citizens
workbook will be distributed to all students to support learning
about their own values and what they stand for so that they can take
ethical action. Through the Forum for Change in the Upper School
and at Student Institute Team (SIT) meetings in the Junior School,
our students will have the opportunity to identify what they care
about and will have the time to work together to develop courageous
conversations on change. They will be free to choose and discuss the
issues that matter most to them, based on what they believe deserves
and demands honest conversation in the school community. The
intention is that these conversations will lead to ethical actions in the
lives of students and the school.
To learn about our students who are already engaged in courageous
action, please see the Student Stories section of the Forum for
Change web page at
www.havergal.on.ca/forumforchange.
Being a gutsy global citizen means:
•
knowing yourself at least as much as knowing other people.
Self-knowledge creates a culture that honours lived experience.
It is the source of feeling your sense of agency, then acting on it.
• being fearless about making arguments and questioning
positions while being open to changing your mind. This is the
central challenge of living ethically in a pluralistic era.
Institute at Havergal