50.0°,
Overcast Systems thinking is a go in Hewlett-Woodmere
Youth Leadership Club sparked by Camp Snowball
Have you ever enjoyed the fresh produce from Hewlett-Woodmere’s Community Garden Learning Center, or listened to live music at the Arts Below Sunrise street fair?
Both have become successful ventures due to the assistance of the Hewlett-Woodmere Youth Leadership Club and what those high school and middle school students learned through Camp Snowball.
Camp Snowball is a leadership program created by Peter Senge, a senior lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. He is also the chairman for the Society for Organizational Learning. Senge’s program teaches youth nationwide different methods of thinking. It incorporates the Common Core Learning Standards and highlights the ways people from diverse communities are improving their learning experiences.
In July, 11 students from the Hewlett-Woodmere School District, teachers, administrators and a few parents attended the annual conference in Portland, Ore. They showcased their community garden, which is one of the ideas that sprang from previous attendance at the camp.
David Rifkind, an advisor teacher in the Humanities department at Hewlett-Woodmere, explains that the community garden, the youth group and the community events are all examples of combining the systems thinking and sustainability that is learned at Camp Snowball.
“Sustainability is trying to prolong how to use things,” he said. “Systems thinking is allowing the audience to get a grasp of a concept visually. It is viewing things as a collection of critical thinking skills in a process of analysis.”
Andrew Loh, a Hewlett High senior from North Woodmere, said the experience with the leadership camp has brought him out of his shell. “My ninth grade global studies teacher told me that with my good work ethic, I was a good candidate for Camp Snowball,” he said. “At the time, I came in with little knowledge of systems thinking tools. Since I got involved, I am able to interact with other students. I came in knowing nothing, and now I’m the group’s president.”
