This year our school has incorporated 21^st Century learning outside of the regular scheduled classes through our inaugural ‘EAGLE Days’. These days (formerly known as half days) are designed to expand our students’ learning by providing educational experiences and activities not included in our formal curriculum. Each of these days has been planned to enhance the learning that our students experience on a regular basis. Our students have the opportunity to be exposed to other aspects of daily life as they prepare for university. Since our EAGLE Days are new, their purposes are twofold: first, to give our students educational experiences that they cannot have in a regular classroom setting; and second, to prepare our students to successfully face challenges through healthy choices.

Michael Austin, author of Preparing Your Child for College: One Professor’s Perspective, explains that there are many virtues that our children need to be taught in order to be properly prepared for university, such as honesty, tolerance, respect, courage, and compassion. In addition, another aspect of preparing our students for the next stage in their education is the importance of transferring responsibility slowly in incremental steps as they move through high school so that they are better prepared for life away from home, and can deal with the emotions and other challenges that living away can bring.¹ Since AIS-R is a college-prep, mission-driven school, we value teaching our students about these (and many more) areas for their own growth as they prepare to move on to university and experience success at the next level. The goal is that after all the EAGLE Days have occurred this year, our students will have been taught about responsibility and the virtues mentioned above.

For example, our first EAGLE Day was held on October 17^th. This day consisted of a NESA Mathematics competition, our AIS-R Goes Global United Nations Day event, exploratory sessions offered by our teaching staff, and finally, a pep-rally. The exploratory sessions covered topics from ‘how to survive at university’ to ‘cutting edge research on cancer’ to even ‘SAT II Prep for French’. Another group of students participated in choreographing a dance, which was later performed for the middle and high school students during their lunch hour. These activities allow our students to have the opportunity to explore other areas of interest that they otherwise might not discover on their own. On the same day, the middle school explored team-building activities as well as guest speakers who presented seminars about bullying, while the elementary school was able to hold each of their classes for a reduced amount of time to incorporate various activities.

Our next EAGLE Day in the high school is November 22^nd. This day will spotlight service as our high school prepares for our annual Week Without Walls event, and will include a guest speaker from the United Nations for both the middle and high schools. This will give our students lessons in respect and compassion, as well as open their eyes to events currently happening worldwide. In addition, our seniors will have a structured period to continue work on their college applications and personal college essays; our sophomores and juniors will be briefed on what to expect during AIS-R’s Week Without Walls in February; and our freshmen will be participating in team-building activities. On December 5^th, the high school will focus on peer relationships and conflict resolution to eliminate any possibility of bullying on campus.

On January 23^rd our EAGLE Day will feature our annual Health Day and Terry Fox Run and this will serve the other purpose of promoting healthy living. This day will consist of guest speakers, seminars, and workshops designed around making smart choices as AIS-R EAGLEs self-esteem issues, healthy living, and alcohol and drug prevention among teenagers. This proactive day is another great example of our well-rounded educational program that considers the needs of our students outside of our regular college-prep curriculum.

As parents, if you wish to become better educated about teens and alcohol and drug prevention, or if you have any concerns, you may start by visiting the following websites;

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/drugs_teenagers?open

http://www.nationalyouth.com/substanceabuse.html

http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/friends/peer_pressure.html

These websites are not intended to supply all the answers on this topic, but rather to be used as a resource for parents to find out more information and to help educate our students around alcohol and drug prevention. The sites can be used as a starting point for parents to understand alcohol and drug prevention and how parents can talk about these topics with their children.

Our school is branching out and embracing an educational program that looks beyond our physical walls to prepare our students for life after high school. The EAGLE Days are a great start in this direction as we help our students better meet both academic and life challenges in the 21^st Century.

References:

1 - http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ethics-everyone/201102/preparing-your-child-college-one-professors-perspective

Ben Keeley
High School Assistant Principal/IB Coordinator