A Postcard from Step By Step School: Think Globally, Act Locally

Posted: 07 August 2021

Overview:

On 21st July, Step By Step School hosted its inaugural Round Square Zoom Postcard centred around the IDEAL of environmentalism. Open to students aged 11-13, “Think Globally, Act Locally” brought together 10 schools and over a hundred participants divided into 8 Barraza’s to discuss eco-friendly practices with special emphasis on food sustainability in today’s world.

The 90-minute call began with an audio-visual curated by our students depicting how we interpret sustainability at SBS and highlighting two students of ours who showed exemplary leadership and furthered the goal of environmentally friendly practices through their individual contributions. After that, 50-minute Barraza sessions began with each child presenting their pre-work collage, followed by two moderators stimulating discussion through pre-prepared prompts.

Lastly, each room worked on a closing document (a visual medium including slides, padlets, etc.) containing actionables for the future that were presented in the closing plenary. Through this, students left the event with not just a will, but an action plan to better the world around them in the future.

Planning:

Planning for the event began months in advance. After attending countless Zoom postcards, our students had developed a sense of what works and what doesn’t and were determined to now host a postcard that would stand out.

After taking the necessary approvals from school management and fixing the dates with Round Square, the RS coordinator of the school circulated a form amongst students of grades 11-12 to volunteer to assist in one of the following segments of the event: art and design, technology team, organising committee, and moderators. Thereafter, the team would meet regularly to brainstorm ideas for the Postcard and the art team produced some wonderful invites.

Eventually, our opening video began to take shape as the Information Technology department retrieved photographs of sustainability at SBS from the school archives and provided them to our student video editor. Involving the student environment coordinators, the video contained a structured opening sequence followed by the content. Working out timings was key, since all the planning wouldn’t matter if we could not stick to the ambitious timelines we had set for ourselves; therefore, we conducted a full run through a few days prior and all moderators were provided with detailed written instructions. The training session with Duncan was invaluable as well. Through all this, it is evident that the postcard, in the true spirit of Round Square, was a totally student-led initiative with support from the school.

Details:

Participants joined by 5:25 PM IST, greeted by soothing music and an aesthetic slide with the words, “Think Globally, Act Locally: Food Sustainability in Today’s World” and the SBS and RS logos. We started sharp at 5:30, with two student leaders welcoming the delegates and setting some norms. A segue provided the perfect exposition to the 7-minute audio-visual, and at 5:45, participants were sent to their Barraza’s breakout groups. This was important as the moderators of each room had different topics planned for discussion (which were released to the participating schools in advance of the Postcard), so the students had prepared according to their specific Barraza’s.

The Barraza leaders welcomed their 11 participants (one from SBS) and one teacher and set the norms for the Barraza. This was followed by 2–3-minute presentations by each student regarding their collage which they had submitted as pre-work. After this, the moderators introduced the delegates to some pre-prepared prompts and facilitated discussion. All of this was guided towards the production of a closing document – a slide, image, collage, or padlet. Finally, the students were brought back into the main session at 6:40, and the last 20 minutes were dedicated to Barraza presentations of the closing document by a student volunteer. We closed sharp at 7pm with a vote of thanks and the participants left with a renewed determination and real-world methods to contribute to the urgent cause of environmentalism.

Challenges:

Conducting our inaugural zoom Postcard as a part of the Round Square Community initially seemed like a daunting task. Various obstacles arose while planning our event, ranging from figuring out the ideal Barraza size not to get overwhelmed or receive too few participants to discuss the chosen topic. Another challenge was creating our opening video; an uptick in COVID-19 cases cancelled our initial plan to shoot the video in school physically. So, we had to develop an alternative to create a video only using the limited pictures we had access to. We were able to resolve the first issue by using our knowledge of attending previous conferences and postcards and reached a reasonable number of participants not to limit discussion nor get overwhelmed. We also were able to shoot the video with support from our school’s IT team, who provided us with the necessary pictures that we required.

Baraza leaders too were initially bogged down by the thought of their participants not speaking up. They prepared multiple prompts and kept back up plans. Meeting with Duncan and the realisation that there is no need to desperately try to ‘fill up the awkward silence’. That put them at ease and made them proceed more confidently.

Impact:

The student planning committee that had been involved with this RS Postcard right from conceptualization, to planning, coordination, networking, implementing was extremely humbled and gratified at the end of this Postcard. Their motivation levels are high, and they feel more in sync with the Round Square philosophy and IDEALS. All of them shared how amazing it was to see the 11–13-year-olds present their ideas so effectively, and the sort of excitement and enthusiasm it created.

The wider impact on the school community is evident. More people in the school are coming forward and volunteering for Round Square related activities. The staff and student community have expressed how Round Square activities seem to bring out the best in the students.

Long term:

The excitement around our inaugural Postcard drew a lot of attention from both students and faculty. We hope that through further Round Square events, such as our environmental Postcard, we can build on the sense of being international citizens in our school community. While also providing our students access to a global community of like-minded knowers who aspire to understand the world around them, not only through their eyes but also through others’ perspectives. Through this, we aim to establish a global connection with other schools so that we all can mutually benefit from this association.

Advice:

Thorough, minute-by-minute planning is the key to acing the RS Zoom Postcard.
With a maximum of 90 minutes to engage the students in a rewarding experience, punctuality must be observed, and all facets of the event should be running as per the clock.
Collaborative ventures are always the richest ones, so we would advise all schools planning to host a Postcard to bring in members of the student community and hear all opinions.

Author: RS Rep Rachna Swarup and student leaders