Every year, the Rowland Foundation provides several Vermont educators with opportunities to lead change in their schools and beyond through a one-year fellowship. As you may know, our Big Picture South Burlington Program Coordinator, Jason Cushner, is a 2013 Rowland Fellow and is building on our successes in Big Picture to create mechanisms for student and staff innovations to become part of the larger high school.
On Wednesday, November 6th, BPSB staff and students went to the University of Vermont for the Rowland Conference, which is co-sponsored by the Rowland Foundation, UVM, and Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center.
We were especially interested in bringing all our students there so that they could hear a keynote address by Dennis Littky, co-founder of Big Picture Learning. Dr. Littky asked for some of our BPSB students to present with him on stage, and we were so proud that Ceal Giordano and Lucian Norrell moved the audience with their entertaining and very heartfelt speeches. Many participants said that their speeches were the highlight of the day and asked for copies of their speeches.
Dennis Littky noted that the speeches given by the students was all he heard about in the afternoon sessions, and he said that many of our Big Picture South Burlington students approached him to thank him for Big Picture, as they have found that Big Picture South Burlington has revitalized their own interests in school and beyond. It is quite heart-warming to have had Big Picture South Burlington featured so positively at the conference!
CLICK HERE VIEW THE ROWLAND CONFERENCE KEYNOTE. (Lucian’s speech begins at 47:40, Ceal’s begins at 49:57)
You also can click these links for a transcript of Ceal’s speech and Lucian’s speech.
Additionally, a group of our students co-led one of the workshops, “Start with the Student: What Do Students Really Want in Their Schools” along with Jason Cushner. Thanks to Aly, Amelia, Brittany, Ella, Halle, Justin, Leah, Olivia D, Shelby, and Toni for presenting at that workshop!