Philip McNeal Leadership Program

In an effort to enrich our Integrated Ethics curriculum, MKA annually hosts publicly recognized professionals who have made a distinguished contribution in their fields to speak to the entire Upper School student body about their unique, personal leadership journeys. Students are exposed to new perspectives and different cultures to further develop their cultural competencies, a critical skill of successful leadership. The school will incorporate the speaker’s themes into ethics programming and curriculum, and identify opportunities for larger community discussion and engagement through clubs, advisor groups, and affinity groups.

In this ninth-grade seminar, students start to construct their “story.” The course begins by asking students to consider who they are as individuals, what’s important to them, and what biases might inform how they interact with their communities, small and large. Students will explore and learn how to identify perspective and implicit/explicit bias. Students will share a piece of their own stories through which they'll identify how they can uniquely foster a culture of belonging in MKA’s community and beyond.

In this course, required for all tenth graders, students will expand upon the themes introduced in Global Citizenship (newly named “Belonging and Community”) with a specific eye towards social justice work. During the first half of this course, emphasis is on developing a personal set of ethical principles by which to live. The second component challenges students to consider how to stand up for those ethical principles and values as leaders at MKA and in the larger community, and we will explore the role of allyship and activism in this important work. In addition to activities and reflections, students will complete a culminating project in which they will create call-to-action videos.

In the summer of 2020, MKA created a LibGuide full of educational resources that guided our new Student Summer Reading experience. The LibGuide contained books, movies, podcasts, articles, videos, etc. that explored the themes of white privilege, systemic racism, and oppression, and the black experience in America. In the fall and throughout the year, students revisited these themes through open discussions, programming opportunities, and our Community Day Film Festival.

Over the past few years, we have really expanded and strengthened our Black History Month offerings, from Monday Meeting programming to community discussions and Allyship Workshops. In February 2021, with our theme of Intersectionality, we welcomed a panel of Yale University students to talk about their experiences as minority students at a historically white institution, as well as Keri Gray, founder of the Keri Gray Group, to present on “Black, Disabled Lives Matter.”

Traditionally, students come together each year for Community Day to educate ourselves on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and to celebrate the diversity within our own community. In March 2021, MKA made significant changes to this programming and unveiled the school's first-ever Film Festival. With the theme of “Building a Movement,” seven films were screened, each supporting the work the community has been engaged with this past year, particularly connecting such concepts as intersectionality and activism. What does activism mean? What does it look like? Each film presented a different perspective on what it means to be an activist and to try and make change. After watching one film and spending some time in reflection, students, faculty, and staff came together in Conversation Circles to talk about what lessons they might take as individuals and as a community. How might we inspire change for a more just and peaceful society?

May Term provides all seniors with the opportunity to spend several weeks pursuing an area of interest in one of the options available that year. Examples include, but are not limited to, a community engagement project, a teaching internship at MKA’s Primary or Middle School, an internship, an entrepreneur and design cohort, a global experience program culminating in a trip, and an independent, creative, or academic project. At the start of May Term, as well as throughout the entire month, students have the opportunity to engage with visiting speakers and professionals.

Monday Meetings, Tuesday Talks, and Special Programming Months: MKA offers a variety of opportunities for community members to come together each week and throughout the year. Weekly Monday Meetings provide students with a platform to not only provide updates to the community, but also to participate in special Student Shares. Our Tuesday Talks allow internal faculty to share about their experiences, outside speakers/presenters to educate community members on issues of diversity, equity, and antiracism, and special performances. In fall 2020, for example, we brought in author, poet, and performer Clint Smith.

MKA values the integration of classroom learning and real-world experience. As we prepare our students to live and work in the 21st Century, we strive to “engage each student personally and intellectually with the world,” as our Mission Statement suggests. In addition to offering global travel opportunities, we offer the community a number of different ways to engage with world issues here at home. In February 2021, for example, we offered a Global Explorations Virtual Series: Purpose and Adaption, in which all community members had the opportunity to hear from speakers around the world and to explore, through hands-on workshops, different aspects of their culture and identity.