The Brunswick Trust R E P O R T
SPRING 2021
In a time of tremendous challenge,
we lean on the lessons and learning of The Brunswick Trust as we look to our boys to be agents of kindness, empathy, and service to others. Our spring newsletter is focused on the ways in which the four pillars of the Trust help our boys, from the youngest to the oldest, cultivate and define these attributes and find their sense of purpose. Herein we ask: How, exactly, does the Trust help boys develop the self-awareness, confidence, curiosity, and balance they need to take on the work not just of school, but life? The answers lie in the “nuts and bolts” of creativity evident in every division, from Middle School advisory sessions in which boys are asked to think about self control like a muscle, to a Taste Test at the Upper School in which students decide for themselves whether meatless burgers are anything like the real thing.
“A child whose life has been infused by agency is more likely to feel the right of authorship.” DR . ADA M COX
To wit, there’s a new Together Tree at the Lower School that features a leaf created by every student, one side a reflection of individual identity and the other a celebration of community. There’s also been a slew of different speakers who have shared their stories with Middle and Upper Schoolers, each offering his own unique experience on how to be an “upstander.”
And, there are the dozens of Middle School boys, Sweet Readers of a kind, who have reached out across the years to connect with residents of senior living homes, an antidote to the crippling isolation of old age, now far worse than ever. It all adds up. Here is an education of the whole boy, ably prepared for life; an education that, true to Brunswick’s founding, brings the learning beyond just math and science, English, and foreign language. When he was a boy, Upper School math teacher Dwight Jackson attended a public school in Memphis, Tenn. In fifth grade, teachers took time at the end of each day for “evaluation”; they asked students to reflect on what they liked about their learning, what they most enjoyed, what was pleasant, and where they were able to contribute. “Yes, we were tightly scheduled, but, ideally, doing something we enjoy,” Jackson said. Back then, the idea was for students to choose careers in which those same things would be true, to plant seeds for a future of work where “the right people would land in the right place,” and even more, become citizens who, on balance, would feel good about their lives. The work of that long-ago Middle School is reflected in today’s efforts of The Brunswick Trust, which seeks to bring purpose and agency into the everyday learning of ’Wick boys.
Recommended Reading: On Purpose Before Twenty, by Dr. Adam Cox
Said Jackson: “Brunswick is a place where just about any kid can find something that he likes, that he gravitates to, that he puts his heart and soul into.”
CHARACTER
D I V E R S I T Y, E Q U I T Y
H E A LT H
SERVICE &
& LEADERSHIP
& INCLUSION
& WELLNESS
S U S TA I N A B I LI T Y