Graded's Brazilian Model United Nations (MUN) Leaders

This weekend, 5 Graded students flew to Rio de Janeiro to attend the Brazil Model United Nations (BRAMUN) Chair Training. Since BRAMUN is an entirely student-led conference, they met with other leaders from schools all over Brazil to plan and organise the event, which will take place in March 12th-15th.

Luiza Gundim - Secretary General

Maria Clara Bezerra - Political Committee Chair

Stephanie Prufer - Human Rights Chair

Pooja Singhi - Security Council Vice-Chair

Daniel Almeida - Special Committee Vice-Chair

Sandra Stoneman - Advisor

The BRAMUN Experience

My MUN experience was incredible. I had heard great things about the BRAMUN conference, and being the first time that I attended, I can say that my experience surpassed the expectations I had. The hotel is beautiful, the conference was planned out really well and everyone seemed to have fun. In addition, I felt that there was a perfect balance between the amounts of committee and free time, allowing us to enjoy the most out of the trip. Plus, Graded as a school performed fantastically at the conference, and the advisers were always there to support us if needed. All in all, I am very glad I chose to go to on this trip and look forward to returning next year! by Brian Wolfson

Barnard Young Women's Leadership Workshops

Graded hosted the Barnard College Young Women's Leadership workshops on Wednesday and 65 girls from the area worked with Barnard students. This was a fantastic opportunity for 18 of our students. Kathryn Kolbert, Director of the Athena Center for Leadership Studies and Professor of Leadership Studies at Barnard College, opened the event with ideas on leadership and women in leadership roles. In the breakout sessions the girls conducted simulation job interviews where they studied gender issues in hiring. 

Below are tweets from Monday's  "Women Changing Brazil" Global Symposium. 

Lee Fertig on Leadership Development at Graded

Cross posted in the Graded Gazette

Leadership Development
Many Graded students, teachers, and parents had the opportunity to participate in this week’s Global Symposium, Women Changing Brazil, sponsored by Barnard College. On Wednesday, we were fortunate to have Barnard students and administrators on campus conducting a series of workshops with high school students from Graded and several other international schools in the São Paulo area. I had the opportunity to meet with these Barnard College officials and we ended up talking a lot about leadership and how educational institutions empower young adults to become effective leaders. And this prompted my thinking about how we do this here at Graded…

What does leadership development look like at Graded? Does the school have one concrete model that includes a curricular focus on leadership, different leadership opportunities for students, special age-appropriate resources, and multiple assessments of leadership activity? No, not really. We do not utilize anything so formal and structured. Nevertheless, people from outside of the school community are constantly telling me how impressed they are with the manner in which Graded students have a leadership presence in a wide variety of activities. Our students were recently commended for being some of the best delegates at the HACIA Democracy and Model United Nations events. A school administrator from an international school in the mid-East commented on how impressed he was with Graded students at the recent AMIS music festival in Dubai. Graded students were the ones who organized the recent Fashion for Community event. Even the Barnard College representatives noticed how astute and active Graded students were in the dialogue at this week’sWomen Changing Brazil symposium. And leadership is not just about individuals speaking and performing in front of others. To empower others with more of a “behind-the-scenes” approach is equally effective: teaching skills to others for their own advancement, implementing organizational structures that enhance the work of others, and giving constructive feedback to peers and colleagues are a few other ways in which authentic leadership manifests itself.

Where does this come from? How do Graded students acquire these characteristics, especially if there is no formal training program? The Graded Experience is filled with numerous opportunities to engage in different types of leadership behavior, activities that encourage students to take some risks and learn along the way. This happens in so many extracurricular activities, but it also takes place within classrooms on a daily basis. Students are constantly being asked to engage in tasks that contribute to effective leadership. So, even though we would probably benefit from being even more intentional about developing strong leadership in our children, it is obvious that much of this is already happening organically. In some respects, this should not come as a surprise to anyone… Graded’s mission does challenge us to empower students to become “engaged, ethical citizens in a dynamic world.” The Graded Experience, by its very nature, is doing just that.

Every Learner Should Experience GIN

This past weekend Graded hosted the Global Issues Network Conference of the Americas and it was an amazing learning event for all involved. The planning committee of Leo Sabo, Edu Ramos, Eliana Keinan, Carlos Krell, Pollo Suarez, Jennifer Gadsen-Carpenter, Geoff Carpenter,  Caitlin LaFrance, Mark Engstrom, and David Bair has been working for over a year to organize this event. Over 300 students participated from 27 different schools and another 70 of Graded's students volunteered to support the event. Daisy Krell, Lika Kishino and Aleandro Oliveira also provided valuable support. The team built the theme around Wangari Waathai's story "I will be a humingbird" and each participant was asked, "What's your drop?"

GIN takes community service and lessons on sustainability to a new level. A level which our students certainly deserve and need for today's world. It's not about holding bake sales to raise money for community service, it's about looking at how local groups can tackle issues related to J.F. Rischard's book, "High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them." It's clear that everyone involved in this weekend's conference left inspired by the learning and with hope for the future. GIN is an event for all ages.

So, what are some of the takeaways for students this weekend?

Students learned from their peers through team workshops. These workshops provided participants with ideas and solutions that can be taken back to their schools. Some of the examples included:

• working to eradicate lion fish from the Dominican Republic reefs
• eliminating disposable plastic on various campuses
• reforestation projects in Quito, Ecuador
• organizing and running summer camps for children
• promoting peace at UAS
• creating beautiful hanging gardens using plastic bottles

You can view all of the videos at the GIN of the Americas Youtube site. 

The students also had access to passionate professionals who have decided to dedicate their lives to improving the world. While typically a keynote speaker will come to a conference, speak and then leave, at GIN, the speakers are accessible to students throughout the conference. Imagine being able to speak to Mike Furdyck, John Liu, Rob Burroughs, Linda Ragsdale, Lori Kumler, Sammie Raynor and Bruno Massote. All are excellent role models for our students because they are not just talking about addressing sustainability issues, they are taking action. Here are just a few of the interesting tidbits that students may have 

Linda Ragsdale

• Mike Furdyck decided to start TakingITGlobal, a not for profit organization designed to connect youth from around the world instead of seeking fortune as an entrepreneur in the information technology industry.
• Linda Ragsdale promotes peace and the idea that we all have a choice how how we act. This after being shot in the terrorist attack in Mumbai.
• Lori Kumler shared information on Brazil's water policy and how it is helping clean up rivers.
• John Liu who is working with governments to rehabilitate ecosystems gave us all a wake up call to act and change our ways.
• Rob Burroughs decided to use his passion, football, to stop the spread of HIV in Africa through Grass Root Soccer. Rob is currently a senior in college but he is a alumni of GIN conferences.
• While students can certainly collect waste for Terracycle, Bruno Massote showed them that his company is using sophisticated technology to reuse and recycle very hard to recycle trash. 
• Sammie Raynor showed how young people were able to create, Lumana, a micro-finance corporation that helps small business owners in Ghana succeed.

Lori Kumler

Mike Furdyck

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Parents and Teachers - Now you can experience Ilha do Cardoso first hand

You've heard "Ilha do Cardoso" mentioned many times over the years and now you have the opportunity to experience the project first hand. Find out how the partnership between Graded and the Ilha community is mutually beneficial. You'll realize that this is not about handing out donations to a charitable group. This is about working together to solve real life problems in a sustainable manner.  

The New Student Advisory Board (SAB)

This Saturday, the Student Advisory Board (SAB) had its first meeting to kick-start one of Graded's newest groups. Its mission is to establish a link between the students, teachers, and administrators to come up with creative solutions to improve and better our community.

The group conducted a variety of exercises, such as learning about the unique types of leaders through a survey as well as considering the differing opinions of teachers, students, parents and the administration in regards to school issues. To end the meeting, members shared their own personal beliefs about what makes Graded great, such as the quality of the education and the sense of community, and discussed the importance of opposing opinions and views.

This group is stepping in as a replacement of the old Student Council, which was abolished, as it wasn't fulfilling its original purpose. SAB hopes to go beyond organizing the hallway bulletin boards and coffee machines to a rather strong, cohesive connection between students and the rest of the school.

With this purpose in mind, SAB will be able to give a voice to the student body as well as other groups, and to make a significant change at Graded. This meeting served as a launch point for the group, establishing what should be changed and how to work as a team to get there.