How Do We Design a More Optimistic Future for All Children?

By Mark Silver, Head of School

Originally posted on ReMarks & Reflections, the Hillbrook Head of School’s blog

Three years ago we asked a question – how might we help our students and the school better reach beyond and make a difference in the world? The process of answering that question led to a number of innovations, including Middle School Reach Beyond Week and a new schedule with a dedicated Reach Beyond Block. Perhaps the most significant innovation, however, was the launch of the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship, one of the only JK-8 centers dedicated to social entrepreneurship and social impact in the world.

The Scott Center vision echoes the words in our school’s vision – “Inspire all learners to see the world as it is, imagine what it might be, and partner with communities to realize long-term impact for people and the planet.” Within this message is a call to not only work with the children, families, and teachers of Hillbrook School but to engage children and adults in the broader world. We are committed, in short, to making social entrepreneurship core subject matter for all children.

Last week, we had an opportunity to see how the seeds of that movement are starting to spread. Director of the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship Annie Makela co-designed and co-led Junto2020, a half-day workshop connected to the National Association of Independent School (NAIS) Annual Conference. Annie is part of the founding team of SocEntEDU, a group committed, as they write, “to an optimistic future through social impact education.” The workshop created space for people engaged in social entrepreneurship education across the country to come together and learn with and from each other. 

Over the course of an afternoon at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education Catalyst Center, the 25 invited participants shared their stories, offering insight into the powerful role that social entrepreneurship education is starting to play at schools and organizations around the world. It was one of the most diverse gatherings of educators I have worked with in my nearly 25 years of independent school education, representing people not only from other leading independent schools across the country but from public schools and other education-related spaces. 

The stories were inspiring, and included:

• a career public school teacher who was looking for allies and thought partners as he designed an innovative, project-based student-guided course in a traditional public high school setting. 
• a filmmaker, educator, and entrepreneur who was creating a space using public access television for historically marginalized students to be the narrators of their own stories, while simultaneously designing and looking to create a student-run Vegan restaurant.
• An educator from another independent school seeking ways to make sure that young people “see themselves as the game changers they are.” She takes every opportunity she can, she says, to ask students not, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” but, “What impact do you want to have on the world?”
• A lawyer, and former public school principal, who was trying to design a way to help families utilize the legal system to get the quality educational experience they deserved in their local public schools.
• A staff member in a domestic violence center and graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania who was interested in learning more about how social entrepreneurship might open doors for the students and women in her care.

What all of these people had in common was a commitment to rethinking education through the work of social entrepreneurship. They saw the possibilities of teaching students how to utilize an entrepreneurial mindset to address real challenges in our world. And, they recognized the importance of creating schools that prioritize the two questions at the heart of the work of the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship – what matters to you and what are you going to do about it?

It is clear that we are in the early stages of a movement that has the potential to reshape the way we do school. We are so excited to be at the forefront of this conversation both in the work we are doing on campus and also in the leadership we are providing across the country.