The Advancing Core Principles (ACP) club hosted an interschool conference on March 27 (after this issue went to press) with the goal of finding out what other schools in the area do to promote core principles.
St. Mark’s School of Texas, Parish Episcopal School, and Trinity Valley School sent representatives, made up of students and faculty, to the morning conference at Greenhill.
English teacher Dan Kasten leads the Greenhill ACP club, which meets every second Tuesday of the month at 7 a.m. in room 308. Four or five students usually attend each meeting and around 10 teachers.
Mr. Kasten said that this conference was different because it was not the kind of conference where there are speakers and a set agenda; rather, it involves interaction between people through conversation.
"We don’t know whether or not they even have a version of ACP " he said. "That doesn’t mean that they don’t, but the point of this meeting is to see if they do, and if so, what they do, what they have done, and what they hope to do."
The point of the conference was to find ways in which other schools promote their core principles. Greenhill has posters and signs that promote kindness, but it is possible that other schools do not.
John Perryman ’81, Assistant Head of Upper School at St. Mark’s, is one of that school’s faculty representatives for the conference.
"St. Mark’s has several mechanisms that address character development," he said. "We have a Peacemakers Program in Lower School that addresses many of these concerns, including ethical decision-making. In addition, our chapel committee is involved in the conversation, and our Leadership and Ethics Program is charged with this type of work, too."
Senior Sophie Barnes, an active member of the club, helped plan the event.
"Everyone gets to bring their ideas, book and website suggestions, curriculum, and anything else they think would be beneficial to share with the group, which is very unique," she said.
Sophie also said she wants people to leave the conference ready to take action. "I am hoping that people will leave excited about new ideas for their school and empowered to take the next step towards achieving them. I hope that the next ACP meeting will be full of new ideas from other schools at the conference," she said.
Mr. Kasten said he had expected the conference to have from 30 to 40 attendees, most of them being students. This is unusual because most members of Greenhill’s ACP club are faculty.
Though the schools have held ethics conferences, this is the first conference based solely on ACP’s mission. Sophie attended one of these conferences last year.
"Last year I went to an ethics conference, but it had more lectures than discussion," she said. "I am excited for this conference because it is more interactive. It is special because it is full of giving and receiving; while there will be discussion, facilitators, everyone, faculty and students, will be equal."
Sophie said that she hopes that it will become a tradition.
"ACP has been making huge strides in the past couple of years and it is exciting that we can continue to improve and get more ideas from other schools," she said.
