It is a question I hear regularly when sharing our school with new audiences.  Until this semester, my answer has been incomplete.  Yes, we have students who perform service while at SEGL, yes, our students’ social venture projects demonstrate service at its finest, and yes, the topics we learn about often inspire service.  But we have always felt we could do more.

This semester, each one of our students does meaningful, weekly service at Thomson Elementary, a Title I public school 15 minutes from SEGL’s academic building.  The school is overwhelmingly poor; nearly all of its students are Latino/a, Chinese, and African American, and many are the first in their family to be U.S.-born.

On Wednesday afternoons, we plan and facilitate “Books and Basketball,” an afternoon program for some of the most needy 1st and 2nd graders in the area.  Using mini-basketballs and a gym with six regulation baskets, we provide the only organized sports activities that many of the children have ever enjoyed.  And then we provide one-on-one reading instruction to the same students, many of whom are English Language Learners and/or reading below grade level.  We have only just begun the program, but already the children are endearing themselves to our students.

Service brings with it a host of ethical questions that can inform intellectual debate.  (In our case: Should we provide the proverbial “hand out” or “hand up,” and what is the best way to do each?  Do the children of undocumented/illegal immigrants deserve our resources?  Do we do service to assuage guilt or justify exorbitant spending on personal luxuries?  What role, if any, should private schools with more resources play in educating the less fortunate?)  Though these questions are important, and though many of our students buzz with them on Wednesday evenings after coming home from Thomson, they seem less important after witnessing a post-basket smile or a triumphant first reading of Green Eggs and Ham.

Special thanks to Katie Solli, a DC Teaching Fellow and 1st grade teacher at Thomson, for making our visits possible.

The topic? The current violence in Syria.On Wednesday, Muscatine (who has written countless speeches for both Bill and Hillary Clinton, including Hillary Clinton’s 1995 women’s rights speech in Beijing and her 2008 Democratic National Convention speech) shared a series of instructive stories designed to explain how to be an effective speechwriter. After an engaging discussion (one question: “is it ever OK to stretch the truth as a speechwriter?”), she presented the students with their speechwriting assignment: the same sort of assignment she would give to aspiring speechwriters applying for a job at the State Department.

On Friday afternoon, Muscatine and Rooney spent 30 minutes on each speech, offering praise and constructive critiques. Is this the best word for this audience? Could this phrase be interpreted more negatively than you intended? Does the speech have the proper balance of logos, ethos, and pathos (Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle)? Muscatine stayed for an hour after the two-hour session, answering additional questions and telling compelling stories from her time with the Clintons. The students’ speeches can be seen here.

Click here to read the background and small group speechwriting assignments that Muscatine provided to the students, as well as the students’ final speech drafts.

This week we also devoted time to the 2012 Presidential election. On Wedesday afternoon we met with Lise Clavel, who directs the Obama re-election campaign in Virginia (one of four “battleground states” that the campaign has identified). Lise spoke off the record about running a come-from-behind Congressional campaign, serving as Chief of Staff for a member of Congress, and the Obama campaign’s current goals and strategy. On Friday we trekked to the American Enterprise Institute, a leading conservative think tank, for a lunchtime discussion about the Republican contenders. The panelists included historian Richard Brookhiser, author of several bestselling books about American Presidents (see his recent Daily Show interview here). The AEI conversation can be seen here.

This week we tackle the global HIV/AIDS crisis and welcome Ambassador Mark Dybul, the Bush Administration’s Global AIDS Coordinator, for our third Master Class.

This semester’s cohort took particular care to respond to “Ghosts of Rwanda” last Friday evening, and went to bed in a reflective mood. The next morning, we met (via videoconference) with SEGL Honorary Leadership Council member Carl Wilkens, the only American to stay behind during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Why did he decide to stay? What did he think of the United States government when it chose not to intervene? How did the experience impact his faith? Why is there evil in the world, and how can we combat it? As an SEGL board member who sat in on the discussion said afterward, “They weren’t really discussing Rwanda. They were discussing the essential questions of existence.” Wilkens, who has spoken with each SEGL group since our founding, provided a hopeful message sharing ways to prevent genocide and the thinking that leads to it. (Later this semester we will also meet with Laura Lane, another favorite SEGL speaker, who was in charge of evacuating all the other Americans from Rwanda in 1994. Juxtaposing Wilkens and Lane is always poignant, and we look forward to sharing how students receive her visit.)

On Wednesday we traveled to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum for a special tour before the museum opened to the public. (Special thanks to Jesse Nickelson, SEGL trustee and Director of Community and Youth Initiatives at the museum, for arranging this memorable visit.) Among other things, the tour allowed students to compare the causes of and responses to the genocides, and to reflect on current situations that many have called by the same name.

After a brief lunch out in Dupont Circle, the students walked two blocks up New Hampshire Avenue from our Academic Building to the Rwandan Embassy. There they met with Ambassador James Kimonyo and his Deputy, Justine Niyibizi Mbabazi (a genocide survivor), who shared personal stories as well as thoughts on the U.S. response and the way forward.

On Friday, we made our way to the State Department for a visit with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dan Baer, whose portfolio includes all human rights issues in Africa. The goal of the meeting was to allow students to connect the past with the present and future. What is the current policy toward Rwanda? Toward Darfur? Toward other human rights hot spots? How does the government address such challenges? Baer provided helpful background on how the State Department approaches human rights issues, how he collaborates with other government officials to determine policy, and how the Administration is addressing several current challenges. The students generated an interesting discussion about the line between personal morals and legal/professional responsibilities. Had Baer ever had to enforce a law or policy with which he disagreed? Would he resign if the government asked him to follow a policy that he opposed? We also heard from Katharine Kendrick, a Program Analyst for Internet Freedom at State; Kendrick was able to share a lot of information about the role of social media in promoting human rights and democracy overseas.

This week we study Human Rights in Syria and present speeches to Lissa Muscatine, former chief speechwriter to Hillary Clinton. We will also hear about the Obama campaign from the woman in charge of winning the state of Virginia and about the Republican Presidential candidates from a panel at the American Enterprise Institute. More on that soon!

*Special thanks to students Hebah and Kate for their contributions to our photographs!

As we wrote last time, on Monday the students simulated the “state of nature” and heard about Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, and John Stuart Mill. On Wednesday morning, we paid a visit to the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress to meet Egil ‘Bud’ Krogh, who served as Deputy Assistant to Richard Nixon and co-directed the infamous “Plumbers” of the Watergate Era. Bud, as he asked the students to call him, demonstrated why he won our inaugural “Golden Mug” by recounting several compelling and colorful stories from his time in the White House. (The Golden Mug, named for the coffee mugs that each SEGL speaker receives as a thank you, honors the speaker our graduates deem the most important to their development as leaders.)

He began by describing the day Elvis Presley visited the White House. Bud thought it was a practical joke until the King walked into his office begging for a meeting with the President. Delighted, Bud arranged an impromptu meeting that would produce the most-requested photograph in the history of the National Archives: Nixon and Elvis in the Oval Office. After discussing brainwashing and the Beatles, Elvis made his ask: could he serve as a Special Agent at Large for the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, and receive a badge to go with it? Nixon turned to Bud and asked, “Can we get him a badge, Bud?”

Before giving his answer, Bud turned to our students, reminded them that he had no idea whether this was possible, and asked what he should have said. Here he was in front of his boss–the leader of the free world–and his idol–the King of Rock and Roll. He had arranged this meeting. And he wanted to please both of them. After a brief discussion, Bud revealed his answer: “Yes sir, Mr. President, if you want him to have a badge, we can get him one.” The only problem? It wasn’t legal. The FBI was furious, but Elvis got his badge. (You can read a longer description of this episode, minus the ethical dilemma, here.)

What is the moral of this story? Bud connected his desire to please and his inability to push back against “groupthink” to a decision he made later as Director of the Plumbers. That decision–to authorize the break-in at Dr. Lewis Fielding’s office in order to discredit Daniel Ellsburg, who had recently released the Pentagon Papers–ultimately helped cause the downfall of the Nixon Administration.

What would have happened if Bud had told Nixon and Elvis, “I’ll get right on it” instead of “Yes”? What would have happened if he had paused to ask whether the Fielding break-in violated an American citizen’s Constitutional rights? These questions led Bud to create ”The Integrity Zone,” a practical ethical decision making tool that he shared with students. What are the internal threats to integrity? What are the external threats? Understanding them can help inform your answer to the three questions Bud considers most important for leaders: “Is it whole and complete?” “Is it right?” and ”Is it good?”

Later on Wednesday we traveled to O’Melveny and Myers, one of the oldest law firms in the country, to meet with Bob Rizzi. Rizzi, a partner at O’Melveny, vets and provides ethical training to Cabinet members and other senior Executive Branch appointees. He gave the class a lecture on government ethics that he normally gives to Georgetown and Harvard law students. (He also teaches them about Bud and Watergate, so it was particularly appropriate that Bud came along to meet Rizzi.) How do you ensure a Cabinet appointee is ethical? How do we avoid the next Jack Abramoff scandal? Rizzi’s overview provoked many questions and helped students see inside the process.

On Friday, Bud returned to SEGL for his Master Class. Each of the students read a provocative real-life case study about the 1972 takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The case did not include the outcome or the final decisions that Bud made to try and diffuse the crisis. For two hours the students wrestled with the different facets of a complex ethical dilemma that required a quick judgement. Should we storm the building, even though lives will be lost, because the American Indians are trespassing and we have legal authority to evict them? Or should we attempt to negotiate with a rag-tag group of protesters and risk a prolonged standoff and a dangerous precedent? We will let the students share their positions with you, along with Bud’s captivating end to the story.

Friday was a particularly memorable food day, too: Chelsea (who is assuming food coordinator duties this semester) earned a prolonged cheer for her maple-glazed carrots and pesto pasta with chicken and avocado at lunch, as well as her Indian chickpea korma with ginger cabbage at dinner. Add to that a cookie dough ice cream cake honoring our first birthday of the semester and we had some very happy students!

Friday evening we also began our Rwanda case study–more on that next week.

After settling in on Saturday and a Sunday morning that featured Capitol Hill’s famous Eastern Market and raspberry-chocolate chip pancakes, we traveled to the academic building for a day of interactive and reflective challenges. First, the students shared their thoughts on two key leadership questions (“What does great leadership look like?” and “What does great teamwork look like?”) before embarking in groups on four leadership events (see the pictures for more details!). After lots of laughter, careful planning, and largely successful execution, we shared an insightful conversation about our own leadership projects this semester. (“I usually focus too much on having fun and not enough on the task at hand,” said one student. “I usually focus too much on the task at hand and not enough on having fun,” said another. “You two should help each other,” someone suggested.)

The students then had their first advisor meetings of the semester. These weekly, hour-long meetings will continue throughout the semester and are designed to help students maximize their time at SEGL.

After a dinner of spaghetti and salad, we settled in for our first academic session of the semester. Before we began, the students learned about the SEGL “ARC”–the pedagogy that informs each of our classes:

A: Agency

What power do I have?

What do I want to change?

R: Reflection

Am I listening with integrity?

Am I thinking with integrity?

Am I acting with integrity?

C: Connection

Who am I?

What is my relationship with the world?

If each of our students graduates from our program able to provide thoughtful answers to these questions, our academic program will have been successful.

Our academic session featured live CNN coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The discussion that followed–informed, penetrating, and meaningful–demonstrated not only the intellectual diversity of our semester, but also its collegiality.

This morning the students confronted “The Infamous Skittles Scenario,” an engaging and immersive simulation of the “state of nature” that social contract theorists like Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau postulate. (Click on the link to read the directions the students received.)

What would humans do if there were scarce resources and no real consequences for their actions? Would you help a blind colleague to water and shelter? Would you injure a stranger in order to feed yourself? Would you be able to cooperate honestly with your peers? These questions help to lay the groundwork for the study of ethics, leadership, and international relations.

Following the simulation, the students heard a brief lecture introducing them to the three classic Western ethical philosophers: Aristotle, Kant, and John Stuart Mill. You can see an video excerpt from the lecture here (the link will be posted shortly).

Later this week, we will connect what we learned to a real-life case study when students meet with two guest speakers: Egil ‘Bud’ Krogh, the Director of Richard Nixon’s infamous “Plumbers” during the Watergate Era, and Bob Rizzi, who provides ethics training to Obama and Bush Administration cabinet members and other senior members of the Executive branch (Rizzi was also on the Vice Presidential search team for the McCain campaign). The connection between the two should be fascinating.

This has been a very promising beginning, and we look forward to sharing more details in the coming weeks.

Our Fall 2011 students made the most of their post-Thanksgiving days.

Here are a few of the highlights:

1. Our first-ever Director’s Day (which two enterprising students secretly organized with our faculty) brought the students to the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in Hall v. United States, to Mount Vernon to see our first President’s home, and–in an SEGL first–to the West Wing of the White House for a special tour.

2. A visit from former White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, who led the students through a dynamic real-life ethical challenge that he faced on September 11: what do you do when you learn that an airplane is 200 miles away, uncommunicative, and headed directly for Washington, DC? Bolten’s focused and engaging Master Class called on students to draw from a long list of ethical and leadership lessons throughout the term, and served as a fitting bookend to the first academic exercise of the semester (a viewing of live September 11 CNN coverage). Later that week, students assumed Executive Branch leadership positions themselves during a complex and intense four-hour crisis simulation. (Don’t worry–they saved the world!)

3. Completion and presentation of our Fall 2011 capstone projects: a collaborative policy document on U.S. policy toward Burma (which we will post soon), social venture business plans (topics ranged from tutoring at local halfway houses to sending solar panels to Kenyan schools), and a moving set of ethical Credos.

4. A special visit from former Hillary Clinton top speechwriter Lissa Muscatine (click here to learn about her earlier visits) to discuss Lissa’s famous “Human Rights are Women’s Rights” speech to the 1995 UN Women’s Rights Conference in China. Lissa visited the day after Secretary Clinton delivered a speech proclaiming that “Gay Rights are Human Rights”; Lissa’s speechwriting protege Meg Rooney (also an earlier SEGL speaker) was the author.

5. A touching and powerful graduation ceremony that featured reflections from each SEGL student and teacher. SEGL Golden Mug Award winner Bud Krogh made a special appearance, and SEGL Board Chair Matt Ellis ended the proceedings with a quotation from T.S. Eliot that each student heard during Odyssey Week: ”We shall not cease from exploration; and the end of all our exploring, will be to arrive where we started, and to know the place for the first time.”

Thank you to everyone who made this semester meaningful, successful, and fun. It is amazing to think that 21 new graduates—ethically strong and internationally aware–are now out in the world and already making it better.

We are excited to announce our newly released 2012-2013 application for admission!  All current sophomores are eligible to apply for our Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 semesters (each with a Priority Application Deadline of February 15, 2012).

Please see our admissions page for more details on the process, our apply page for the application download, our tuition and financial assistance page for an overview of costs and available aid, and our calendar page for an outline of significant semester dates.

Considering applying?  We hope so.  Have questions?  Contact admissions–it’s why we’re here.

Current juniors: we do occasionally invite the exceptional rising senior into our semester program.  We will also be releasing details on upcoming summer opportunities in the very near future.  Stay tuned and reach out to let us know you’re thinking about us.

International students: we have the capacity to issue F-1 student visas.  Please email admissions to learn more about this process in advance.

Best of luck to all prospective applicants!

The presentation and subsequent discussion is the culmination of a long process that began late last month.  After two long and productive discussions, the students chose the U.S. relationship with Burma (also known as Myanmar) as the subject of their capstone policy document.  (Each student completes three capstones as part of the SEGL experience: a personal ethical credo, a collaborative policy document, and a business plan for a social venture.)  Students then broke down into six subgroups, each of which became responsible for a different area of the document.  The next day, we traveled to George Washington University for a full day of research in the university library (students also learned how to use a college library from one of GW’s top research librarians).  The following Monday, students presented their preliminary findings before the infamous SEGL “review committee,” a briefing before a hypothetical U.S. delegation to Burma (Senators John McCain, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Bernie Sanders, as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, each portrayed with gusto by an SEGL teacher–little did we know that Secretary Clinton would announce an unprecedented trip to Burma this morning!).  In order to help students refine their ideas and stay poised under fire, the review committee is intentionally critical; to ease the pain we provided cupcakes at lunch.  The students then set about writing their rough drafts, calling experts and reviewing new sources as necessary.

Yesterday’s meeting with Ambassador Mitchell and his staff was a triumph.  Indeed, his deputy called it “the best part of our week” (not bad considering all the incredible news coming out of Burma this week!).  Each group elected one member to make a three minute presentation of its recommendations; Mitchell then responded with constructive feedback and took questions.  The off-the-record meeting lasted over an hour.  The students left proud of their efforts and also determined to make their final draft memorable.

Later that evening, we celebrated our accomplishments and an early Thanksgiving together before the week-long break.  Norah prepared a spectacular feast of sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, sparkling cider, pumpkin pie, and chocolate chiffon pie.  It is hard to believe that we only have three more weeks together, but easy to be grateful for the wonderful spirit and effort of our community.

The students will release their policy document at the end of the first week after Thanksgiving Break.

We met Kelly in Area 60, the section of the Cemetery where soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.  (The plane that hit the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 flew directly over Area 60.)  Kelly shared the history of the Cemetery and explained some of the symbolism of each headstone before stopping by the graves of several soldiers he knew. At each site he told a different personal story honoring the solider buried there.  Afterwards, he answered questions about his career, ethical dilemmas he faced as a leader, and U.S. defense policy.  Before leaving Area 60, students paid tribute to his son, Marine Second Lieutenant Robert M. Kelly, who died almost exactly one year ago and is buried in Area 60.

Click here to read a story that the General handed out during his talk.

As Jal’s website notes,

In the war-torn region of Southern Sudan, Emmanuel Jal was born into the life of a child solider. Through unbelievable struggles, Emmanuel managed to survive and emerge as a world-famous recording artist with a hit record under his belt. Called an artist “with the potential of a young Bob Marley” by Peter Gabriel, he has performed at Live 8 and Nelson Mandela’s 90th b-day concert. His music can be heard in major motion pictures, TV, and he’s been featured in major outlets like TIME, USA Today, NPR, CNN, MTV, & the BBC. Emmanuel is also a spokesperson for Amnesty International and Oxfam, and created the charitable foundation, Gua Africa.

After a brief film and live performance of new hit “We Want Peace,” Jal discussed his riveting story; in a show of his diverse talents, he included a stirring spoken word piece as a part of his testimonial.  He also shared his commitment to peace and education, and to the charities he encourages others to support through his innovative “Lose to Win” website.  He then performed a final song, “Emma” (about the woman who saved his life) that got the students dancing and singing.

Afterwards, Jal joined us for an informal lunch, where he handed out limited-edition “pre-release” copies of his upcoming album, signed autographs, and swapped stories with students.  There was lots of laughter and excitement to be had–in large part because of Jal’s wide smile and easy manner–and many students were heard humming his tunes long after he left.

Jal is also tech-savvy; he sent the following Tweet to his thousands of followers after the event: “I’m @ The school for Ethics and Global Leadership in Washington, an amazing school set up after 9/11 for 21 students from all over the world”

Special thanks to SEGL parent Kathleen Francalangia for making this exciting and memorable morning possible.

Links to official music videos of the songs Jal performed at SEGL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1ZEJWVSiEI&feature=channel_video_title

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qaM-nLDu84&feature=related (live performance at Nelson Mandela’s birthday party)

Link to Jal’s TED talk, which shares his unbelievable story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF_dHdNOgSA