A Recap of Our Parent/Guardian Sessions and Future Plans

 

This year we were thrilled to be able to offer four opportunities that connected with our commitment to inclusion and belonging, well-being and sustainability. Each of these topics has a common foundation of caring about our children and how caring adults can enrich their upbringing. 

 

We started the year with an evening sharing the research and then stories from parents on "Caring Adults in Our Children's Lives". Based on feedback from parents/guardians, we went deeper on this notion of caring adults and held an evening with Jake Ernst from Straight Up Health on Teens and Social Media. 

 

The world of social media is an ever changing landscape, we were honoured to have the FSWC continue our work in Antisemitism and offered a session for parents/guardians in partnership with the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center entitled “Combating Online Hate: What to Know. What to Do." The evening offered deep knowledge of online intolerance and modern day antisemitism and then broadened our understanding about online hate across many aspects of our lives and what to do to create a more caring world.

 

Our fourth parent/guardian evening was about sustainability. Audrey Campbell '24 began the evening by speaking to the work Greenwood has done to incorporate personalized Land Acknowledgements and the connection to ongoing care and stewardship. The evening included an update of our sustainability work from Cassandra Della Mora and concluded with a talk from current Greenwood parent, Kevin Kimsa, who shared ways that businesses and economic growth can make positive contributions to sustainability.

 

 

We have already had requests to offer another session on teens and social media in the upcoming year. Artificial Intelligence will be an additional area that we feel parents/guardians will want more information and guidance. 

Our work will continue in the area of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging and will build upon on the work and learning we did this year. We will continue to focus on teens and their well-being as a session topic and we have plans in place to host another sustainability evening! 

 

In addition to the Parent/Guardian Series, we are going to offer online lunch chat conversations groups next year around topics of interest. We welcome ideas about topics and also other ways parents/guardians can connect and learn together. 

 

Please email Mary Gauthier, Executive Director, Greenwood Centre for Teaching and Learning, at mary.gauthier@greenwoodcollege.com if you have suggestions and comments!

We look forward to another year of learning from each other. Have a great summer!