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Citizenship in Action
Left to right: Robin Wright ’22, Paul Clement ’22, Sean Hall ’22, Grace Noh ’22, Theo Mercier ’22 and Kyra Briggs ’22 with Bart McMann, Director of the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy, which is currently based in Tisch Schoolhouse
Over the summer, members of the Senior Class were actively engaged in their communities, lobbying for new legislation, building affordable housing, planning a new podcast to bring awareness to mental health issues, and helping children and adults with disabilities, as part of their Civic Changemakers Projects (CCP). A diploma requirement, the CCP offers students an opportunity to work independently on a service project in their local communities, and put into action what they have learned over the course of the school’s four-year citizenship curriculum under the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy.
Funded by a $100,000 grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation and matched by school donors, the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy encourages students to explore and practice active citizenship animated by the ideas and example of Frederick Gunn. The four-year curriculum is based on the mission of the school and encourages students at every level to engage in topics and projects of interest that foster self-awareness and responsibility.
Through the Civic Changemakers Project, they are becoming active citizens — active in changing the world in the same entrepreneurial way as Mr. Gunn.
Lobbying for change
Robin Wright ’22 spent two weeks this summer working as an intern for Sean Michael Peoples, Esq. ’79, a partner at the law firm of Brown Paindiris & Scott, LLP, in Glastonbury, Connecticut. In addition to practicing law in Hartford, Peoples has served as the District 6 Probate Court Judge in Glastonbury and Hebron since 2015.
As part of the internship, Peoples introduced Wright to family law, criminal defense law, probate, trusts, and estates practice as well as personal injury and workers compensation law. Wright learned how to analyze a complex personal injury file and discuss it, sat in on several Probate Court hearings at the Glastonbury-Hebron Probate Court, and toured the Connecticut State Law Library, Connecticut Supreme Court, and Hartford Superior Court. Wright also had the chance to meet with retired Connecticut Probate Court Judge Timothy Keeney, a former U.S. Navy SEAL who, in 1972, led the team that recovered the Apollo 17 spacecraft when it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
“Robin is a mature, professional, serious, and compassionate student who is not afraid to take advantage of opportunities when they come to him,” said Bart McMann, Director of the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy.
It is not surprising that Wright has set his sights on becoming a lawyer. His father, John Wright P’22, is an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Connecticut, and his mother, Veronica Halpine P’22, is a staff attorney at Greater Hartford Legal Aid. “I’m fairly confident it’s what I’d like to do with my life,” Wright said. “I’m predisposed to liking that semantic framework rooted in philosophy and have been exposed to it over the years through my parents. I’m interested in criminal and civil law, but it’s variable.”
For his Civic Changemakers Project, Wright is working with the American Civil Liberties Union and attorneys at the University of Connecticut’s Criminal Defense Clinic to lobby for plea bargain reform in Connecticut. “It’s a huge problem, particularly for juveniles,” Wright said, explaining that defendants as young as 14, 15, and 16 are sometimes bullied into entering a guilty plea because they face longer prison sentences if they do not admit to the charges against them.
Wright first became interested in the issue of plea bargain reform after speaking with a circle of lawyers he was introduced to by his parents. After reading more about it, he said he felt particularly passionate about doing something about the issue. There was a groundswell of support for reform this summer, supported by the ACLU, and Wright is hoping that a bill will be considered by Connecticut lawmakers in an upcoming session of the General Assembly. Wright and his twin brother, Phineas ’22, have already reached out to State Rep. Maria Horn, who represents the 64th District, which includes their hometown of Goshen, in support of draft legislation. If there are public rallies in support of a bill, they plan to be there, he said.
Bringing Awareness to Mental Health
During the 2020-21 school year, Theo Mercier ’22 gave a memorable junior speech focused on his own experiences with mental health issues. For his Civic Changemakers Project, he is planning to launch a podcast to bring greater awareness to mental health and offer resources to help others who may be struggling.
“Theo is the personification of people in our community who are making mental health struggles not a taboo subject anymore,” McMann said. “There’s an enormous amount of pressure on adolescents, and they often feel like their self-worth comes from
their accomplishments. We want students to know that before their accomplishments, they are known and loved. Theo was willing in his Junior Speech to investigate and shed light on the struggles he had, and I found it to be really brave and courageous. Now he’s having conversations with other people to destigmatize this issue and let others know, it can be anybody.” During the pandemic, about 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, up from 1 in 10 adults who reported those symptoms from January to June 2019, according to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. “I think it’s something a lot of other kids struggle with talking about. It’s so hard to We do spend a lot of time talk about your feelings and pinpoint what you’re feeling. We do spend a lot of time on physical health and I on physical health and I think that mental think that mental health is health is just as important. A lot of times just as important. A lot of it’s overlooked and I’d like to bring people’s attention to it,” Mercier said in an interview times it’s overlooked and this summer, around the same time that I’d like to bring people’s athletes competing in the Tokyo Olympics, attention to it.” including U.S. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka, were bringing their – Theo Mercier ’22 own personal struggles with mental health to light. To Mercier, the example they set publicly helped to highlight what others may be feeling in their day-to-day lives. “It makes it easier when someone who is so talented and seems to have this perfect life also struggles with this stuff. A lot of other celebrities have also struggled with it,” Mercier said, pointing to actor and former professional wrestler Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson, who has spoken openly about his battle with depression and anxiety, as another example. “If you see this person, who you perceive to be the ultimate goal, super successful, and also having fun with life, getting over [talking about] it, it’s kind of comforting. No matter where you come from or what’s going on in your life, this can affect you.” For the podcast, Mercier is working with Brad Barrett ’22 to interview students while Mercier’s mom, Helen Waldron P’18 ’22, Director of Admission & Financial Aid at Oxford Academy, will put him in touch with therapists from her professional network, who can offer advice to students about how to reach out for help. “At the beginning of my whole mental health journey, I didn’t really know what to do with myself. A lot of times I would just ignore it and keep pushing through. When the pandemic hit, I said
to myself, ‘I need to start dealing with this,’ and put it at the forefront of my attention,” said Mercier, who is planning to discuss resources on the podcast ranging from yoga, art and music to talking to a professional counselor. Personally, he found that art (painting and drawing in particular) as well as music (playing the drums) and exercise (soccer, ultimate frisbee, and baseball) helped him the most. “As long as you do it with a purpose, that’s all that matters.”
Working until everyone has a home
Sean Hall ’22 and Paul Clement ’22 chose to spend a week this summer helping to build affordable housing for two families in Westchester County, New York. Both students participated in a Builders Camp sponsored by the Fuller Center for Housing of Greater New York City, which seeks to end poverty by promoting partnerships with individuals, businesses, and community groups to build and rehabilitate affordable homes.
Jim Killoran, the CEO of the Fuller Center, is a parishioner at the church Hall and his family attend in New Rochelle, New York. Last summer, Killoran reached out to Hall and his brother, Collin ’23, and invited them to help work on a housing project. They did that for two months, and returned this past summer with two friends, Brian Mhando, who attends Regis High School in New York City, and Clement.
Asked why he chose to make his experience the focus of their Civic Changemakers Project, Sean Hall said: “Jim Killoran stresses a lot that we won’t stop working until everyone has a home. His message just struck me. It’s a basic right to have a home to go home to at the end of the night and I believe in his philosophy, to keep building homes until everyone has a home to go to every night.”
The project they worked on, at 300 King Street in Chappaqua, New York, was featured on a live radio show Killoran hosts on WVOX 1040 AM, and in Westchester Magazine. “It was originally a Quaker meeting house dated back to the 1820s; it was dismantled and reconstructed on its current site in 1883 and was most recently used as a Lutheran nursery school. It also has an ambitious future: Ultimately, it will be repurposed as two, three-bedroom residential units that will be sold by lottery to income-eligible purchasers,” the magazine reported. Paul Clement ’22, Brian Mhando, a student at Regis High School in New York, Sean Hall ’22 and Colin Hall ’23 at the affordable housing site they worked on this summer The project comes at a time when builders are facing a steep rise in construction costs and materials, due in part to the global pandemic, combined with an increased need for affordable housing. The cost of housing and homelessness were listed as the leading concerns, ahead of COVID-19, public safety, taxes, education, and jobs, according to a poll conducted by the Manhattan Institute and Echelon Insights of adults in 20 of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas. “The project opened my eyes to problems I had not thought about before. I did not realize how bad the housing situation was until I worked with the Fuller Center,” Hall said. While volunteers like Hall and Clement have donated their time and energy to the Chappaqua project, and local organizations have donated materials, it is one of the Fuller Center’s larger projects. “They needed a lot more funding than for a typical house to move forward,” Hall said. Part of the work the students did this summer involved building wooden planters and picnic tables that were sold by the Fuller Center to raise funds for the housing project. The picnic tables were purchased by the city for use in a local park, providing an additional benefit for the local community. A lot of their focus this summer involved carpentry and framing. “I made the closets in all the bedrooms,” Hall said. “Last summer, my friend and I caulked all the windows of the house. We went on the scaffolding and did a lot of the outside painting. We did the insulation and we just learned the process of what goes into building a house and the different components.”
That process included learning about sustainable building standards, which has been a focus for both Hall and Clement in both the IDEAS Lab courses they have taken and the Engineering Club they co-lead with Oliver Chen ’22 at The Frederick Gunn School. “As a historic reuse project, the exterior of the home is being restored to the appearance it had in 1883. In addition, it’s being designed using passive-house sustainability standards, which will result in such benefits as reduced energy costs, building resiliency, and superior air quality,” Westchester Magazine said.
“It was a very interesting project,” said Clement, who also learned how to apply stucco over cement to the home’s exterior, helped work on a supporting wall on the first floor, and even chopped wood for the fireplace. “Housing is a basic human necessity, to have shelter, especially at night and when it gets colder for the winter. I wanted to participate in something that led to a change as great as that, working on the house or doing things to support the community, building things.”
“It’s important to learn how you can effect social change, physical change, and seeing that you actually have an influence in the world, especially when you finish a project,” Clement said. Housing is a basic human necessity, to have shelter, especially at night and when it gets colder for the winter. I wanted to participate in something that led to a change as great as that, working on the house or doing things to support the community, building things.”
– Paul Clement ’22
Modeling acceptance and inclusion
McMann, right, leading a Pathways class for freshman in fall 2020 For their Civic Changemakers Projects, Grace Noh ’22 and Kyra Briggs ’22 both volunteered their time this summer to help children and adults with disabilities. Noh worked with elementary school-age children with autism at a local welfare center in Korea, and Briggs worked with a nonprofit organization in Connecticut that teaches water sports to individuals of all ages and abilities, including those who are blind, have cognitive disabilities, or cerebral palsy. Both students said they were inspired to get involved in their respective programs based on personal experiences. Noh’s mother is a doctor and her father, a dentist. From the time she was four, Noh accompanied them on annual medical service trips to Southeast Asia. Her father is also an amputee and suffers from hearing loss. Noh said seeing him struggle with transportation and access to buildings inspired her to help others who might be facing similar challenges. “That’s how I became passionate about disability, inclusion and accommodation,” she said. Noh, who is a Gunn Scholar this year, sees a parallel between her Civic Changemakers Project
and Frederick Gunn’s ideals, particularly, his vision to establish a school where all are welcome. “Mr. Gunn was really a progressive leader. He would always seek to make changes in our school community and beyond, integrating African American or Asian students, and allowing more students to join the school community.”
Similarly, Briggs developed her Civic Changemakers Project based on her experience as a volunteer at the Leaps of Faith Adaptive Skiers program, where she has taught adaptive water sports since 2018. This summer, she created a video to walk people through a typical day and demonstrate how the program helps people, and how participants feel before and after their experience. Briggs first learned about Leaps of Faith after her brother, Nolan, who has cerebral palsy, participated in its adaptive water sports program on Lake Zoar in Newtown, Connecticut.
“I’ve met so many great people. Everyone has so many stories about how they found the program. For some it provides a sense of community. There are a lot of people who are not used to being around people with a similar or more severe disability. They come to us, where that’s a normal, regular thing, and they feel very welcomed and appreciated,” Briggs said. Some participants also come away with a sense of physical achievement. “Being able to get up out of the water on the ski, progressing from different lines, different equipment, I think it’s just happiness, pure joy. I love waterskiing and the second I get in the water and know I’m about to get up [on my skis], I just have the biggest smile on my face, and for them it’s the same.”
For example, Briggs said she skis with a young girl who is blind. “She starts out on the dock. I help her put on skis, hand her the rope, and she slides into the water.” After that, they communicate using a series of signals developed by Joel Zeisler, a former national champion water ski jumper and founder of Leaps of Faith, who also drives the boat. “One tap on the line means they can do whatever. Two taps is another boat coming. Three taps signals ‘let go’ at the end of the run.”
Asked how her project ties in with the school’s citizenship curriculum, Briggs said it comes down to one word. “I think it’s acceptance, just learning to accept people for who they are without rushing to a judgment. Everybody does the same thing in different ways. You just have to take your time and be patient and respectful with them.”
Winterim Course Provides a Closer Look at Government in Action
This year, some Winterim courses are incorporating travel opportunities for students, including a trip to Washington, D.C., December 5–10, 2021, to see the U.S. Government in action. Bart McMann, Director of the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy, developed the course in partnership with the Close Up® Washington, D.C., program. After researching and investigating today’s key public policy issues, 20 students will embark on a six-day/five-night excursion to Washington, D.C., where they will make personal connections with the people, institutions, and iconic sites that embody our nation’s past and present.
Students will have the chance to discuss current events with political experts, policymakers, and members of Congress or their staff. They will explore Capitol Hill and witness a live congressional committee hearing. They will have opportunities to engage in meaningful discussions with peers from around the country and debate the most pressing issues facing our nation in a Mock Congress. They will also visit the famous monuments, worldrenowned museums, and hallowed institutions that define our history and get a glimpse of diplomacy up close by visiting an embassy and meeting an ambassador or diplomat.
All students are eligible to participate. Completion of the course will earn full credit for the Senior Civic Changemakers Project (CCP), a diploma requirement.
“I look forward to exploring Washington, D.C., with our students,” McMann said. “They will learn more about U.S. history and government while considering a variety of viewpoints. Close Up’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunities coupled with our Citizenship and Just Democracy Curriculum will inspire and empower students to become active participants in our democracy.”
Bart McMann, Director of the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy
