Skip to main content

More Than a Bookbag



"It's more than a bookbag. It's an opportunity to encourage a child to strive for excellence on their educational journey and for you to do good in your space," said Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee, founder of the Gbowee Peace Foundation, during last week's kick-off assembly for our sixth graders' greater good service initiative in support of GPF's 2023 Bookbag Drive.

Our mission calls for our boys to aspire "be good men." I often remind the boys that good doesn't equal perfect. It means committing to becoming a better person today than we were the previous day, and for our boys to "do good in their space." Through their work this year for GPF, the boys will manage and run fundraisers to finance backpacks, supplies, and raise uniform money for high achieving first through sixth graders in Liberia. The Drive awards excellence in a country where many children are strong, committed students but have financial hardships that may prevent them from attending school. As part of the project, the Liberian boys and girls and Saint David's boys will also correspond with each other.

Doing good by reaching beyond our school community through projects like the Bookbag Drive is a fundamental way in which Saint David's spirituality pillar presents, and how we become better people. Likewise, in our school-wide Sophrosyne wellness and character course our boys explore the distinction between empathy and compassion, and are given the space to identify their own feelings and emotions, and those in others. They learn that being a good man doesn't apply only when others are watching; and that the Golden Rule, which guides our Lower School boys, sometimes needs to be modified to include treating others how they want to be treated. Lessons center around conflict resolution and self-advocacy, appreciation for difference, and in the Upper School years, how to navigate the many challenges of adolescence, be they peer- or media- or health- related. Deliberate moral introspection through lessons, discussion, and reflection drives the program, which includes periodic hands-on workshops, conducted by Dr. Derrick Gay, our longtime partner in our continuing efforts to build an always stronger, inclusive community.

 No single action is rarely as simple as it may appear. It's why basic manners matter; why saying "please" and "thank you" and holding a door open are so important. They convey respect and understanding, honoring the collective humanity of all people. And the bookbag drive is about much more than the bag itself. As Ms. Gbowee said when closing her session with our boys: "It's not 'we're giving a backpack.' I want you to see it as 'I'm contributing to the betterment of the world, everything I've been taught in school.'"


Popular posts from this blog

William Burke '10 Explores the Mother-Son Relationship in Special Chapel Talk

William Burke '10 returned to Saint David's this morning to speak to our fifth graders and their moms or special friends about the mother-son relationship. Will, a graduate of Regis and Georgetown who works as an Analyst at BlackRock, reminded our boys of the instrumental role their moms play in myriad aspects of their daily lives. Using the experience of boys who play hockey as an example, he observed, "Mom is always there, she's your gear sponsor, your Uber to the games, rooting you on during the game and waiting afterward with donuts and hot chocolate." Win or lose, a son's biggest fan is his mom. As he referenced our school's mission, Will remarked, " Ut viri boni sint  (that they be good men)  are beautiful words, but how do we learn to be a good man?" He noted that the boys can learn from teachers, coaches, and other students, while adding that they receive vital wisdom, support, and guidance from their mothers. "Behind e...
Read more

"The Wisdom Within" - Writing and Thinking

In our continuing efforts through the Teaching Boys Initiative at Saint David's School ™ , one of our visiting scholars, Dr. Ric Campbell, engages in ongoing reflective practice with our faculty. Below, Dr. Campbell shares an example of a freewriting initiative that was born from the collaboration between literature teacher Jamie MacNeille and history teacher Drew Burton, who sought to address forms of student engagement in their respective disciplines.  WRITING and THINKING:  A Learning Community Engaged in the Knowledge-Making Practices of the Disciplines “Whoa, this freewriting is really helpful !” The above quote by a sixth-grade literature student captures a revelatory moment; he has discovered the wealth of ideas at the end of his pen as he writes to describe what he is noticing in the novel the class is reading and discovers that what he notices leads to questions, and that those questions, in turn, lead to bigger ideas. “All there is to thinking is seeing something not...
Read more

"The Wisdom Within" - Learning as Deliberate Practice

In the following  Wisdom Within post, Visiting TBI Scholar Dr. Ric Campbell continues his blog series on our faculty’s reflective practice program. This entry explores how three Saint David's teachers collaborated to build "self regulated" students: "expert learners who take increasing control over their learning while participating as respectful, caring members of their classroom learning community." LEARNING AS DELIBERATE PRACTICE “If schools are going to help all students become expert learners, the metacognitive capabilities of learners must be acknowledged, cultivated, and exploited. Students must be actively engaged in their own learning and knowledge building; they must be able to effectively direct their personal quest for knowledge and skills, to judge for themselves whether they understand, and to know what to do when they need more information.”  [1] Perhaps the two most important outcomes of learning across the rich and varied curriculum at Saint Dav...
Read more