Three LCC Middle School Students are currently attending the Round Square Conference at the Athenian School in Danville, California. The following series of texts from Andrew Vandenbussche ’19, LCC student delegate, were sent to his parents and printed with his permission.
The Round Square conference in Bogotá, Columbia, has been such an amazing experience. Today, we had the chance to visit the beautiful town of Guatavita located very high in the mountains, one hour away from Bogotá. First, we visited the Guatavita Museum. There we learned all about the artwork and traditions of the native people who used to live there. Next, we went to the main square of the town to complete a fun scavenger hunt.
After going to a beautiful sailing club for lunch, we went on an afternoon hike up a mountain to see the lagoon of El Dorado. The view was breathtaking; the lagoon was almost perfectly round and surrounded on all sides by forest. We learned that the lagoon is filled with gold due to the traditions of the Muisca, who believed the lagoon was sacred. In all, the Round Square conference has been such an amazing experience and I am excited for new adventures to come. -Alexandra Gardilcic ’16, Round Square Participant
We arrived in Bogotá on a chilly Friday afternoon. Greeted by familiar faces, the staff from Anglo Colombiano, I could not control my excitement about being back in this beautiful city. After a well-needed rest in our hotel, we went to the school to meet our host families and spend the rest of the afternoon with them.
Our second day began with a conference; we got to listen to Pedro Medina speak about the evolution of Colombia, which helped to dispel stereotypical views of the country. Next, we got to know our Barazza groups (basically, our advisory group or “homeroom” for the rest of the week) by playing name games and doing different activities. On the third day, we set off at 7:00 am to La Calera, which is situated just on the other side of a huge mountain. To put things in perspective, Bogotá is 2,640 metres above sea level and we trekked up to about 3,000 metres. Therefore, by the time we got to our destination, we were completely out of breath.
The plan for the day was simple. Change the reality of a family while changing our own perspectives by building a house. One floor, three rooms, for three young boys and their parents. We met and worked with the family throughout the day. They were overjoyed to see us helping to make their dream come true.
Still, building the house was confusing to us. Similar to the theme of the conference – magic realism – it really seemed as though magic was the only thing keeping the concrete blocks stable while we stacked them on top of each another – with no cement or anything that was really setting them in place. We worked from around 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, and then took a break for lunch, which was provided by the family. They made us a traditional Colombian soup, which had chicken, corn, potatoes, and other delicacies. Afterwards, it was back to work until 4:00 pm. Although the roof still had to go up (so we did not completely finish the house), we could see in the eyes of the family members how happy they were, as we kissed and hugged them goodbye. It wouldn’t take much to finish the house and the final walls stood strong.
Throughout the day, I could barely wrap my mind around the idea that our team could help improve the lives of a family all in one day. I was happy because not only was I able to participate in such a fulfilling experience, but I also got to know the family. I spoke to the mother about her life in La Calera and held her little niece while they prepared the soup. This is a day – and more importantly, a family – I will never forget. As I sit on the bus on the way to Guatavita, a lagoon, and yet another beautiful destination within the city, I know that there are many more memorable experiences ahead and I am looking forward to the rest of the week in Bogotá, Colombia, at the 2015 Round Square Conference of the Americas. – Mikaela Ludwick ’16, Round Square Participant
I walked in someone’s shoes the other day. What I mean to say is that for one night, I voluntarily slept outside. For one night, I was like the homeless who more and more frequently sleep on the doorsteps of stores and churches, right here in my prosperous city. But, in truth, not really. Unlike the men and women who cannot find or who refuse to seek shelter, I was in the warmest sleeping bag my neurotic and overly protective mother could find; I slept in a quinzee which served as a perfectly adequate shelter, surrounded by friends, protected by teachers. Unlike the men and women who sleep outdoors, I haven’t been ignored, eyed malevolently or stared at contemptuously. My night spent outdoors has earned me a lot of (frankly not quite deserved) sympathy. Still, a little glitch in the zipper of my ultra warm sleeping bag meant that I shivered during the night. It was not totally pleasant, and perhaps explains why today, a few days after my winter experience, I stopped before the man seated on a threadbare blanket in the snow. He held a cardboard, with the heartbreaking words, ”hungry and cold”. I just couldn’t do otherwise. I couldn’t bear to ignore him. I gave him all the change in my wallet.
I have read enough on the issue of the homelessness to know all the arguments against giving loose change to the cold and hungry men and women in the street. I have been warned that my poor dollar would be used to buy hard drugs; that most of those who appear to be homeless are not homeless at all; that they contribute to the decline of neighborhoods, that it is best to leave their fate in the capable hands of organizations. This may be true. It is undoubtedly true, at any rate that dropping a few quarters in a cup will not solve, not even temporarily, the issue of homelessness. Except that I have no hard evidence at all the man shivering right before my eyes is a drug addict. I have no real evidence that all men and women on the streets have drug problems. I have no evidence at all the man staring at me, a little incredulously, really has a home to go to. I do not know that organizations have tried to help him. I do know that he is outside in unbearable -30 C weather, and that he is cold. I do know that not a single person, not a single one, has stopped to acknowledge him. Sherbrooke is a busy street, and there have been many pedestrians. Their steps, though, did not even falter as they passed him by. They rushed past him, without a glance, as though he did not exist at all.
I wonder when we have all become so jaded that we do not shudder when confronted with human misery. This is a man sitting before me. He deserves to be, if not helped, at least acknowledged. He deserves to be looked in the eyes. He deserves an “excuse me”, a “hello”, a nod or a smile. I wonder at the level of misery and despair, which moves a man to seek refuge in the frozen streets. My loose change might not have done much good, but it at least served to remind me, and him, that he is a human being, and he matters. If there is the least little doubt, I will choose to err on the side of compassion.
Service to others is a great Round Square ideal, and it takes a dozen different forms. It does not always have to result in accountable service hours. It does, however, every single time, start with humility and humanity. – David Elbaz ’15, Round Square Head
I am often asked, with just a hint of suspicion, “What is Round Square?” Quite simply, it is the sum of six ideals, internationalism, democracy, environment, adventure, leadership and service, which, added one to another, equal a philosophy of learning. Those six goals, each important in and by themselves, are bound together to form an integral whole that we call Round Square.
It is a great source of pride to me that these six ideals are so intricately woven in the LCC fabric, so much a part of the LCC student’s daily vocabulary that the six ideals are not so much applied as lived. Community service, the daily exposure to environmental or international issues, or participation in leadership activities are the common lot of all LCC students – much like homework, part and parcel of student life.
This no doubt explains why I am so often asked, “What is Round Square?” Round Square activities are not notable for the LCC student, exposed right from the start to the Round Square philosophy of learning. Round Square activities are quite simply and naturally part of life.
The most spectacular of Round Square activities are perhaps the international exchanges which give LCC students the chance to live for a couple of extraordinary months, the ordinary life of the Peruvian, South African, Australian, Indian or French student. These exchanges often begin with a burst of, until then unsuspected, patriotic pride. There are friendly patriotic tug of wars, where differences are highlighted. By the end of these exchanges, differences between cultures are dismissed as trivial, and there is the profound realization that for all the geographic differences, which, to all appearances, cause abysses between cultures and nations, we are all one humanity. This is a Round Square lesson.
Twice a year, there are Round Square or CAIS conferences for Middle School and Senior School students. LCC students travel, sometimes to far and exotic places, other times to more familiar destinations, to exchange, with other Round Square students, ideas about international or environmental issues. Open dialogue and finding ways of integrating leadership into everyday life is another Round Square lesson.
And then, there are all the other activities, no less important and very much a huge part of Round Square life. These include, but are not limited to, all the community service activities and the environment-oriented activities. The environment committee’s tireless efforts to educate on environmental issues proved effective: all six LCC students sent to Jordan had the urge to turn off the water sprinklers irrigating, all day and all night, the beautiful school campus. That we are all locally responsible for the global good of the earth is a third Round Square lesson.
The Coat Drive to benefit the Share The Warmth organization is a great example of the way LCC students live Round Square ideals. The drive, undertaken enthusiastically, if quietly, was a great success.
A Round Square student is a Round Square person for life. I am a Round Square student, and I, for one, couldn’t be more grateful. – David Elbaz ’15, Round Square Head