ENCORE: The Importance & Value of Community Engagement
Download MP3Welcome to the Empathy to Impact podcast brought to you by Inspire Citizens. I'm your host, Scott Jamieson. On this podcast, we are gonna be diving into the voices and stories of students who own their learning and impact their communities. Welcome
Speaker 2:to the Empathy to Impact podcast. Today, we are on the East Coast of the United States of America, and I am checking in with Saeed Al Khadi, who attends a little known institution in Massachusetts called Harvard University. And he has recently been a keynote speaker at the Near East Schools Association or NESA, their leadership conference in Abu Dhabi. And while he was there, he bumped into a few of our team from Inspire Citizens. And we're really kind of excited to hear about his experience and what led to him being a keynote speaker at NISA.
Speaker 2:So before we get into all that, Seid, I'm gonna pass over to you and maybe have you introduce yourself a little bit to our listeners.
Speaker 3:Okay. I'm very excited to be here. I'm Sayid. I'm a Lebanese first year at Harvard. I spent most of my childhood in Cairo, and then I did middle school and high school in Beirut in Lebanon.
Speaker 3:So most of my, I think, experiences relevant today were, you know, based in Beirut. I think that's what led me to get in Tunisia. I was a member of an international school for middle and high school in Beirut, and that's also what helped my involvement with the organization. And, yeah, I've been in the US for a few months. I think I'm a fan.
Speaker 2:I wanna talk a little bit about your experience growing up in international schools, and how did that experience influence you and how did that lead to your connection with NISA?
Speaker 3:You know, I'd say I think I had 2 very distinctive experiences with international schools. 1 in Egypt as one of, like, the expats that were at the school, one of the non locals who were at the school, and then in Lebanon as one of the locals who was at the school. And it's an extremely different dynamic, think to be one of, you know, the local families versus being one of those, you know, transient international families. You know, as international schools, there's really this dilemma and, you know, I think a very volatile balance that international schools need to make between being true and sticking to their international DNA and, you know, upholding these foreign curricula, but also not alienating themselves and their community members from the local context. And I saw that, I think, as the biggest challenge both in Egypt and in Lebanon.
Speaker 3:Just trying not to alienate ourselves from the local context, but still upholding, you know, these international curriculum standards that not many schools did.
Speaker 2:As someone who spent a lot of time in international schools, I definitely kind of resonate with that. There is this sort of struggle for balance, I think, between being a part of communities. And sometimes it feels a little bit like the school is separate from the community. And there is these interesting dynamics within the school. Often, we have that transient international student population like you're talking about, whose parents are there for work and they're coming into the international school.
Speaker 2:And, we also have some students who are from that local community. The same is true of teachers. And we have staff that are coming in a lot of times from Europe or from North America or from Australia. And we also find local teachers as well who are at this school. And sometimes there's a bit of an imbalance between how those teachers' contracts are set up, how those teachers are respected among the faculty, and that can lead to some challenges.
Speaker 2:And I think the the schools who can kind of find that balance and are able to celebrate that diversity and celebrate that kind of sense of place and connect to the local community. I think that's really where the magic is happening. And I think that's a challenge for some schools.
Speaker 3:No. I really think so. And I feel that when we approach diversity as international schools, we have a very, very big tendency to be like, oh, but diversity is firstly a North American issue. And secondly, that it doesn't apply to us because we have, you know, 25,000,000 passports in our community that, you know, diversity goes much, much, much further than, you know, I think diversity and, you know, where people come from. I think diversity goes through, you know, being in touch with our communities and not being tone deaf to know everything that's happening literally a few blocks away from school.
Speaker 3:And I think that's a real challenge, you know, international schools have. I
Speaker 2:think it's also an opportunity. I think there's so much that can be gained from getting out into the community and getting out of, we sometimes call it a bubble, that exists around international schools. And one of the programs, part of our eco media program that we really love, is called Out of the Blocks. And involves getting out and talking to people and being active listeners. And it's based on a podcast in Baltimore, Maryland that Erin Hankin and Wendell Patrick hosts.
Speaker 2:And it's all about capturing this mosaic of stories that exists in our communities. And so I really love the idea of being able to connect with the local community, just like you're talking about, and finding that value there. And thinking about diversity, I guess it brings to mind when I listen to your comment, the cultural iceberg. And we think about what we can see above the water, I think that surface culture and how it really goes a lot deeper. And just like you're saying, diversity does go a lot deeper than just being able to have a number of flags in your entrance to show the different passports that exist in your school.
Speaker 2:You know, how are we celebrating that? How are we valuing that? And how are we really allowing that to kind of shape what we do in schools? I think that's really important. As a student, you were part of a NISA school.
Speaker 2:And when you were a middle school student, you had an opportunity with NISA and applied for a scholarship. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Speaker 3:So in middle school, I applied for, they called it, the Hass Hanson Scholarship. And as part of that scholarship, they wanted, you know, students to showcase how they were Renaissance men and women or young men and women. And I think that my profile, you know, fit that ask very easily. I wasn't always the most academically engaged students as I was extremely excited to be out and about in the community, be out out and about out of school. I feel that I, you know, beyond my engagement with lots of local and international NGOs in Lebanon from 6th 7th grade.
Speaker 3:And I feel that those experiences afforded me lots of skills and knowledge in middle school. Yes. But because I got involved at such a young age, by the time I was in 10th, 11th, and 11th, and 12th grade, you know, that involvement became so deep that it gave me so much fulfillment. And also all the impact was, you know, something that I couldn't have ever imagined, you know, I could have in middle school. But it's just because I was in it for a long time and my heart was in it for a long time.
Speaker 3:So I feel that I found myself at a place where I was, you know, shocking myself within a wow. We can actually have a tangible impact when you join an organization at a young age or begin your time with an organization. It's much harder to see how your work can translate into that tangible impact.
Speaker 2:I love that. And I think that's so important for students when we're thinking about designing service learning projects or designing projects that involve working with someone in the community and making our local community better is giving students that opportunity to see that impact because it is, it's such a powerful experience for our students. Was it a school program, or was it something you actively sought out as a middle school student getting involved with these groups in your community?
Speaker 3:I think it was a personal choice. Some were run by the school and some were out of school. I got really involved in middle school and high school with the American University of Beirut, especially after the Lebanese revolution of 2019 where everyone hit the streets and started protesting. It was clear that whether or not you agreed with the revolution was irrelevant, but most people had no clue how to translate their passionate activism into tangible policy change. And to me, that was, you know, a big problem.
Speaker 3:And so, you know, my gut reaction was, you know, let me try to at least solve it for me, learn how to do that myself, and then maybe try to, I guess, push these skills and push that knowledge to my community. So that's when I first got involved with the American University of Beirut. It's now it's the policy k two p center. And then 6 months in, we founded a youth policy arm for the center at the university. So we trained undergraduates and high school students in policy.
Speaker 3:We ran public policy boot camps with young people and then, you know, hopefully, equipping them with the skills to navigate both the Lebanese and the regional public policy landscape. So lots of my engagement and many people's engagement in Lebanon, I feel, were in response to issues that they saw in their communities. And I feel that we've had lots of those different case studies within the school. You know, MUN is something that starts in 6th grade with students at ACS. But by the time I was in 11th grade, we posed this question of diversity and dissonance and inequity in our communities, who was at our conference.
Speaker 3:And we realized that we'd, you know, naturally self select from English speaking private schools, which made up maybe less than 3% of all schools in Lebanon. And so we started an outreach program, and we worked with local Beiruti public schools with their children, like, with their students so that they would too have the skills and knowledge to successfully participate in our conference. And that wasn't a form of charity. It really was a way to enrich everyone's conference experience. And I think it's these experiences and exposure that I've had that's really, I think, pushed me and pushed my profile to be one that was compelling to invite to speak at NESA this year.
Speaker 2:What do you think is the role of international schools in communities? Do you like you're talking about look around the table and recognize who's there and maybe more importantly, who's not represented. What's the role of and or maybe what's the responsibility international schools have in our communities to make sure that the diversity of our community is represented in these programs?
Speaker 3:I think it's very hard to overstate how much of, like, a value driven role international schools play in communities. No. It's not an educational role all the time. It's not about, you know, pushing through, you know, these international lines of curricula, doing the IB, doing AP, and just going through the American system. I think it's very difficult to be able to put into words, you know, the values that these schools sort of stand for in local communities because they're affiliated to so many foreign entities.
Speaker 3:And sometimes it's hard to see that, especially if you work at the school. If you've been in international schools your whole life, you don't see the values that you embody by nature of, you know, being a student or being a faculty member or being a staff member or a parent at this school. You know, you're by nature subscribing to pushing forward these ideals. And lots of the time, these ideals don't always fall hand in hand and fall in line with the, you know, cultural norms of where you are. I think that's where it becomes a struggle, sir, but that's where the role of international schools becomes, I think, much bigger.
Speaker 3:You know, international schools are much more relevant in places where, you know, public schools don't advocate for the same standards of curricula, where it's not the same subjects that are taught at public schools or at regular schools. Now that's where international schools have the, you know, biggest role to play and have the most power. It's not in big cities in North America.
Speaker 2:For sure. And I 100% agree. I I think that we spend a lot of time often in international schools, like, thinking about our global society when it's our local community that we're a part of that we're not always as connected with. So anything we can do, I think, to make those connections is really, really important. I just wanna circle back a little bit to your involvement with the Lebanese Center For Policy Studies.
Speaker 2:And I think you mentioned you started out with them. This is at the American University in Beirut. And as a 10th grade student, Were there a lot of 10th grade students involved there at this time? Or, you know, how did that come about?
Speaker 3:I was the only non master's student. I think the other young the youngest person there was 24. And it it it was a cold email. One of many, many cold emails that didn't receive a response the first or the second or the third time. And And then with the 4th time, you know, they said, like, no.
Speaker 3:We obviously don't offer any opportunities for anyone that doesn't have a college degree, let alone that doesn't have a high school degree. And then I was just like, just please meet with me. Just give me 20 minutes. Just give me 20 minutes. And I knew that, you know, if I got a fair shot, I thought that 20 minutes was fair.
Speaker 3:You know, if I got 20 minutes, then they could say no, and I'd be happy, and I'd feel heard. And so they gave me that 20 minute those 20 minutes. And then, you know, I stayed with them for 2 years. Those 20 minutes were successful.
Scott:I really admire the perseverance.
Speaker 2:And you talked about how as a result of that, you were able to create this arm of that program that does involve youth in creating so much opportunities. I think that's just absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I think part of it is just putting you in getting your foot through the door, and then it becomes much easier going from 0 to 1. Just getting those 20 minutes, I felt, was much more challenging than, you know, going through the funding proposals and the presentations to get this policy arm approved and get this part of the center approved and getting everyone on board, getting the director on board and getting the, you know, fundraising team on board and everyone else. But once everyone was on board, you realize that people genuinely are excited to have young people at the table. It's just that they're always skeptical to have young people at the table, especially at non school related institutions because there's rarely much continuity.
Speaker 3:Because, you know, who are you gonna have? You're gonna have people nearing the end of their high school careers. You know, those are usually the most active under 18 year olds. It's those nearing the end of their high school careers. And then when they graduate, they're gone.
Speaker 3:So, you know, there's also that trade off that institutions and organizations are very scared to rely on younger people. Even schools, you know, they have, you know, series of advisers and faculty members that hold clubs together because they're always there. They represent that continuity and they facilitate the club even though it's led by students because people are, I think, skeptical sometimes.
Speaker 2:We joke often about student leadership in high school and how the worst part of our great student leaders in high school is they leave us and they graduate. Well, it's terrible for our sustainability. Like, we wanted to stay, but it's just, that's not how it is.
Scott:And we really talk when
Speaker 2:we are more seriously, when we are working with students, with student leadership, thinking about how are we going to pass the torch, knowing that any of our leaders in some of these high school clubs and councils are temporary. How are we gonna make this sustainable? How are we gonna level up that next level of leader and keep this going, keep this momentum going once the people who have really spurred that momentum have moved on. So that is certainly a challenge, but I think there's just so much to be gained from having just different voices at the table. And this is something that makes me think about a conversation I was having with some student change makers at one of our partner schools, Frankfurt International School.
Speaker 2:They had their first student led change maker students from multiple grade levels. So I was talking to some students who were in the beginning of high school and also some people who were just starting middle school and talking about how they work together and both the older students and the younger students talked about how it was such a really cool experience to be able to be in that kind of multi age and different perspectives and how it really added to their conversations. So, hopefully, this will be a trend of the future. What was it like to be a keynote speaker at NESA and talking to school leaders from international schools across the region? Tell me a little bit about that experience.
Speaker 3:You know, people kept mentioning how special it was for students to be on the stage, but it really did feel special. And I feel that I hope I was at least somewhat insightful, but I think that people were very, very open to the thought of having a student on that stage. They've been, you know, going at NISA for 54 years and going at these structures of these leadership conference for 54 years. So I think it was refreshing for many people. So I was surprised by the attention I got when I was on stage.
Speaker 3:I feel that that attention was needed because lots of the points that I made weren't the most lovey dovey and light. You know, my session involved, you know, themes of different realities and different identities and communities. And I've have had that be the through line throughout the entire session. And so we had 2 hours, and we listened to over 15 voices of NISA graduates, NISA students, NISA parents, NISA faculty members, NISA staff members. And what did everyone have to say?
Speaker 3:Listening and authentically inviting these voices to the table was something that was new to many people. And then I helped, I think, ground lots of these experiences and lots of these, you know, big points I was trying to make in my own trials as a NISA graduate, but as a student going through these different experiences at the American University of Beirut, at my school, ACS Beirut, at the Lebanese Center For Policy Studies as well where I feel I was most exposed to, you know, divergent realities and divergent identities. I think I went on my first real tour of Lebanon at a focus group moderation panel with the Lebanese Center For Policy Studies just because there are so many divergent and disparate realities in your community that you just never speak to, you never interact with, and so you forget, exist.
Speaker 2:I think it's important to tell those stories. Like, we're big into storytelling. I know you worked a little bit with us at Inspire Citizen now, and we're all about telling those stories. And I also really love, and this is something we're also a big advocate of is getting student voices into these conversations. And it takes me back.
Speaker 2:There's some students at the International School of Dakar in Senegal that I met last year, and their slogan for their group was nothing about us without us is for us. And that's really stuck with me. It's talking about how if school is about them, then they wanna have a say in curriculum. They wanna have a say in all aspects of their education because it's for them and they felt they deserved it. And I kind of agree.
Speaker 2:I think if we can get that student perspective and bring students authentically into some of these strategic planning conversations in schools, Students know what they need. Students understand what the world needs, and we just need to give them an opportunity. Just like you said, then we need to give them that 20 minutes where they can show that they they can add value to these conversations. And I love that that was a big focus with Nisa and bringing a student back and being able to have that experience and bringing in some of those diverse voices, I think that's really, really
Speaker 3:amazing.
Speaker 2:You had to work with my colleague, Steve, a little bit as you were getting ready for your keynote. Tell me a little bit about that experience. What's it like to, work with our cofounder of Inspire Assist, Steve Sosek?
Speaker 3:So, actually, I had an idea of, you know, my session in August, and then I reached out to Maddy. He would the NISA director being, like, you know, I really wanna do something experiential, and I think it shouldn't just be me, me, me because I was getting 2 hours and a half, and I felt that I I got bored of me after 2 hours and a half, so let alone, you know, a big hall filled with 400 people. And so she connected me with Steven, Inspire Citizen, saying that, you know, he might be, you know, a good fit, and he was. You know, we had a few Zoom calls to, you know, brainstorm different ideas. We ended up coming up with a deck of cards, you know, that was, I think, emulating Off the Blocks and their podcasts to help ground different discussions and, you know, student voices but in everyone's voice as well.
Speaker 3:So we ideated and came up with a deck of 52 cards that had different prompts and questions. And we printed those cards, and then each participant at the NISA conference got one of these decks to take home with them and use with their students, use with their colleagues. And so, Steve actually took over 45 minutes out of the plenary right after, you know, people regrouped after their coffee break to run a small experiential engagement grounded and using, you know, those decks of cards that everyone had. So they'd have conversations with one another, listen to each other, have dialogue. I think that was the point, to get everyone moving.
Speaker 2:For sure. And from what I heard, it was a really positive experience at Harvard starting your 1st year as an undergrad. Where is this headed? What are your aspirations for the future?
Speaker 3:I want to go back, I think, to Lebanon, probably, and if not, the Middle East. I think that I'm very engaged in public policy, and I want to drive forward public policy in the Middle East. I'm also very interested in international development. I think that that region is in need of, you know, lots of lots of development many times, and I think that that's exciting. It's not necessarily something that puts a region behind.
Speaker 3:I think that you can build back better just because we haven't really built lots of the infrastructure that other countries do have already. You know? We can be much more intentional because we have a blank canvas, and that really, really does excite me.
Speaker 2:That does sound exciting. And I agree. I think it is a very special place in the world with a lot of potential, and I am excited to see where where that leads for you personally and for that part of the world as part of our global society. What's that call to action that we might leave our listeners with if a lot of our listeners are educators, some in public schools, some in international schools, what's our call to action we might leave them with at the end of our conversation here?
Speaker 3:So for students, really, really, really try to get involved without of school engagement in your community even if you're not from that community. If you don't feel you belong, whichever international community you you're at, I'd ask you to, you know, challenge that thought and challenge that perception. Just try to get out. Try to be engaged. And then I think for educators, try to facilitate that engagement.
Speaker 3:Try to be open to new ideas, but trying to, you know, invite students to submit ideas for out of school engagement. And I really think that the strongest out of school engagement usually doesn't come through service. We don't need to alienate groups to be, like, the helping and then the helped all the time. That's not the only way to meaningfully engage with the local context as international schools. And I think that sometimes we make that mistake.
Speaker 3:We don't need to always be helping those outside of our community to veer out of our community. We can be actively working with those outside of the community. And I think it's extremely fulfilling, and I think you'll learn so much.
Speaker 2:That resonates with me so much. And I think there are so many great examples of how coming to the table with all the answers goes really, really poorly, and no one wants to be helped. And if we can go into our community as listeners, coming to that table as listeners and with the aspiration to co create solutions and work with those local communities as opposed to coming in with that sort of saviorism mindset that unfortunately sometimes gets into these ideas of service. There's so much potential there to have impact in our communities by working together collaboratively with those people and those groups and those organizations who are already doing this work in these communities. So, thank you so much for that.
Speaker 2:Is there anything else you'd like to share, Sayid, that we didn't, get to?
Speaker 3:No. Not really. It was a great experience to be in Abu Dhabi. It was a great learning experience. And people tell me that they've learned, which I I find you know, still hard to grasp when older educators come up to me and be like, you know, your lesson was like, your session felt like a lesson.
Speaker 3:And it was so insightful. It's hard to be like, oh, like, really? And so I hope it resonated with people, and I really hope the message went through clearly.
Speaker 2:Seyi, thanks so much for taking some time out of your busy schedule to connect with me on the podcast. And just like you're saying, I think this is meaningful work that we're engaged in here, and thank you for adding your voice to that. There's a lot of value here, and really appreciate the time to have a chance to get to know you and share your story with our listeners. And so thanks very much.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me. Thank you.
Scott:Hi. This is Scott. Thank you for listening to the Empathy to Impact podcast. I really love Sayeed's message at the end about getting out there into the community and getting involved. And I think there are so many great opportunities for students who are passionate about global issues to go out into the community and find somebody out there, an organization or a charity, any group really that's already engaged in this work in the community, and see how they might be able to meaningfully get involved.
Scott:And I think it's our responsibility of educators to facilitate this type of learning. Saeed also brought up a really interesting point earlier in the conversation when he talked about how difficult it was for him to get that 20 minutes to explain how he could bring value working with the American University of Beirut designing policy and how they've never really thought about working with students before. And I think a lot of organizations are in that same boat. They're reluctant to work with students because their time there is short. They are gonna be moving on to the next stage of their life.
Scott:What if, though, we embed this into a unit within our scope and sequence? That way, an educator who is in the school for longer term builds that relationship with a community partner, creating these opportunities for students, working with that community partner to understand what kind of contributions students can make in terms of adding to the work they're doing and also learning along with them. And those relationships between the educator and the community partner, as this unit comes up in the scope and sequence year after year, continue to develop. And as that community partner's needs evolve, students continue to be involved with that community partner, and we can really see that impact over time. I think that can be really amazing.
Scott:If this is something that you're wondering how we might get started with at a school, please reach out and book a discovery call with Inspire Citizens. We've designed programs like this that involve students outside of the classroom, getting out into the community, making connections, and really learning with and adding to the work of community partners in the local community to make a difference. Please do remember to subscribe to our podcast so you don't miss any of these inspiring stories from young people around the world. Leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. And if you've enjoyed this episode, please share it out on your social media and in your professional learning communities.
Scott:Thank you for making a difference in the lives of students and the people in your community.
Speaker 3:Thank you for listening to the Empathy to Impact on impact all of us.
