An Independent School • Grades 5-12
April at the Upper School: learning from those who transformed the world with care

by Whitney Suttell, Upper School assistant director

Over midwinter break, I traveled to Alabama and Georgia with a group of students and faculty to visit sites associated with the Civil Rights Movement. Since returning, I have told everyone who asked that it was probably the best thing I have gotten to do in my 20+ years as an educator. As a history teacher, I have taught the history of racism, slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and nonviolent social change for decades, and this was my first opportunity to see and experience this history firsthand. To do so in the presence of Lakesiders made the experience all the more meaningful. At Lakeside, we talk about equipping and inspiring students to transform the world with care, and this trip brought that ideal to life.

In the spirit of experiential education, my fellow trip leaders and I highlighted to students both the philosophy that anchored the Civil Rights Movement and the practical and logistical efforts required to make the movement’s seemingly flawless campaigns effective. Throughout the trip, we encountered many references to Martin Luther King’s Principles of Nonviolence. One principle our students kept coming back to in our reflection discussions was the idea that nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people. Nonviolence holds that evildoers are also victims. Students wrestled with the idea of seeing the humanity in people who actively perpetuated hate. They asked thoughtful questions about how to resist unjust systems when those systems are upheld by individual people. We talked about King’s vision for a Beloved Community, which an installation at The King Center defined as “a realistic vision of an achievable society, one in which problems and conflicts exist but are resolved peacefully and without bitterness.” I see echoes of that vision’s grounded realism in Lakeside’s constant, ongoing work to nurture a community of belonging in which every person is seen, heard, and valued.

At Lakeside, we have the opportunity, and indeed the responsibility, to teach students real history, with all its contradictions, nuances, and unresolved questions. When students see connections with their own world and begin to develop their own sense of purpose to address injustice, that theoretical learning takes root in a way that is real, lasting, and life-changing. 

During the trip, one student remarked how extraordinary it was that those involved in the Civil Rights Movement remained hopeful despite the slow pace of change and the extreme violence they often faced, and how inspired they were by the activists’ stories they learned about on the trip. Our duty to all Lakesiders is to instill in them the belief that the world can be better and that they can make a difference. Every day, I find joy and hope in knowing that Lakesiders are wrestling with the hard questions and finding ways to contribute to a more just, equitable, and sustainable world.

Important dates for April


Whitney Suttell is Lakeside’s Upper School assistant director. You can reach her at 206-440-2968 and info@lakesideschool.site. Lakeside's approach to immersive and experiential learning is part of our work to deepen student voice, creativity and agency, under the Educational Excellence priority area of our strategic plan. 

 

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