2 minute read
The Brunswick Trust
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging continued from page 3
The BSMP kicked off the year with a Homecoming gathering that brought about a big group of students, parents, and alumni together in the foyer of Sampson Field House just before the big football game. BSMP holds four meetings a year.
“It’s been very successful,” said Alecia Thomas. “It brings more of a sense of belonging.”
The program is sponsored by the DEIB and Alumni offices, as well as the Diversity Committee of the Board of Trustees. The goal is to provide social, career, and academic enhancement opportunities, while also strengthening the sense of belonging for Upper School students who self-identify as Black and/or African-American. Given the success of this pilot program, Brunswick is seeking to extend this type of alumni connection to a broader range of interested Upper School students. Middle Schoolers celebrated Women’s History Month with a March assembly that featured five of their teachers sharing
Health & Wellness
Atech insider turned storyteller and poet spoke to the Brunswick community about the impact social media has on life and learning in school and at home.
Max Stossel, founder of the non-profit Social Awakening, spoke to parents, faculty, and Upper and Middle School students about social media and its impact — noting especially its effects on social skills, focus, productivity, and feelings of self-worth.
Stossel offered tools to help teens, families, and teachers “survive and thrive” despite the near-constant enticements of the digital world.
We’ve Been Sneaking into Your Brains, his presentation for students, featured information about how technology is designed intentionally to capture our constant attention. Stossel used rhyme, poetry, and storytelling to underscore his messages to young people, and to offer ideas and tools about how to manage technology in their lives.
Stossel gave a similar keynote to parents — Education in the Age of Distraction — which detailed social media use among teens and offered “meaningful daily actions” for families. More information and resources can be found here:
• socialawakening.org
• awayfortheday.org
• pz.harvard.edu stories about inspirational figures in their own lives. Teachers who presented were Erin Withstandley, Kate Duennebier, Deanna Smyers, Krista Taylor, and Denise Loeber.
“It was a chance for students to get to know their female teachers, and to empower our teachers to share their stories,” said Stanley. “We wanted to showcase the strength of the female faculty members for the boys to see.” continued on page 5
Sixth grade Diversity in Action students also presented during the assembly; their topic was Inspirational Women in History: Hilary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, Margaret Thatcher, Kalpana Chawhla, and Wilma Rudolph.
Matthew Walker Ph.D., a world-renowned sleep expert, visited Brunswick to speak with students, faculty, and parents about the imperative of sleep and its foundational role in education and all of human health and wellness.
Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, spoke to students in a morning keynote entitled Sleep is Your Superpower. He sat with parents in the evening for a “fireside chat” in Baker Theater.
Walker told students that sleep plays a critical role in all learning and has a demonstrable effect on test scores. Sleep, he said, is the brain’s method of “hard saving” information, while it also helps lay the groundwork for new learning by preparing the brain for a new day.