Browning Represented at International Boys School Coalition

At a recent faculty meeting, Brad Droke (Academic Technology), Michael Ingrisani (English Chair and Dean of Faculty) and Janet Lien (Director of Admission for Middle and Upper School) presented on the annual conference of the International Boys School Coalition (IBSC), held in Nashville, Tenn., over the summer.

Mr. Ingrisani began by describing the mission of the IBSC as well as the conference theme, "Building Boys Into Good Men." He shared a video showing a number of choirs from IBSC schools all around the world performing the song, "Homeland," and discussed a pedagogical tool for teachers on promoting relational learning.

Ms. Lien highlighted one of the keynote speakers from the conference, Jon Meacham, who is most recently known as the author of "Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power." On the topic of building good men, Mr. Meacham ruminated on four character traits that he would like his sons to possess: curiosity (as embodied by Thomas Jefferson), resilience (Andrew Jackson), charm (Franklin Roosevelt), and courage (Winston Churchill). (Incidentally, Mr. Meacham spoke at a Browning graduation several years ago.) Ms. Lien also described a workshop presented by Clark Wight (Director of Leadership at The Hale School in Australia) titled, "The Manhood Project," where boys are given the space to have honest conversations about the definitions of being a man and how boys feel they are judged by their peers.

Mr. Droke spoke on a workshop he presented jointly with Jeremy Sambuca (former Director of Academic Technology), titled, "Dream Big and Print 3D," where they presented on how design thinking is used in classes at Browning. Participants at Mr. Droke's and Mr. Sambuca's workshop were also invited to engage in the design thinking process. Mr. Droke is on an action research team with the IBSC on academic technology, and will present at next year's annual conference in Cape Town, South Africa.