High School Intersession 2022: A Deep Dive into the Climate Crisis

“Our Intersession programming provided students, faculty, and House Advisors with an opportunity to join as one learning community around our vital topic: Climate Crisis,” said Assistant Head of School Celeste Herrera.

Keynote Speaker Karen Washington, a community activist, and New York Botanical Gardens board member, kicked off Intersession at a topical HS Assembly on Tuesday. As an activist who promotes community gardens in NYC, Karen’s work has helped make NYC a better place to live. Karen educated the HS audience on the importance of sustainable food growth and best practices. In addition, she emphasized that supporters should empower those in need by asking what they want instead of what they need. Karen concluded her remarks with a call to action, urging the students to seek ways to help because homelessness and hunger are unacceptable.

At Wednesday’s One Book/One Day/One Community event, the entire division read essays from the book All We Can Save. After a book discussion in House, students chose two sessions based on their interests from 30 thought-provoking sessions. “The presenters shared their work as it relates to climate change and sustainability around topics such as fashion and textiles, regenerative kelp farming, eco-anxiety, government

transportation policies, food and identity, architecture and biophilic buildings, health, environmental justice and equity, business investment, and more,” said Director of Library and Information Services Christy Payne. Taken together, the wide-ranging perspectives and knowledge represented in the day reflected the diversity of topics and essayists from All We Can Save. Topics included “Emotional Resilience in the Face of Climate Distress,” “From Sandy to Ida: How NYC Needs to Step Up to Address its Climate Vulnerability,” “Does Climate Change Affect Us All Equally,” “Introduction to Ecomusicology: Music and the Environment,” and more.

The day began with Keynote Speaker Alexandria Villaseñor in conversation with Dalton Science teacher Katherine Kartheiser, Ahlay Hussain ’23, and Jasmine Wynn ’23. Zooming in after presenting at a recent NATO meeting, Alexandria spoke with students about her journey from curiosity to activism and encouraged students to be confident in bringing their activism to adults in positions to make change. She said to “always bring your authentic voice. We are the moral voice in adult spaces” and suggested reminding those adults in power that many of them have children and grandchildren to whom this will matter. Students and faculty alike were impressed by this 16-year-old activist and learning about her past work and future plans was inspirational to all.

On Thursday, students chose from workshops such as “DIY Climate Change Kimchi,” “Improv: The Ladies Who Ranch,” “Passive Housing Architecture & Movement Workshop,” or “Zero Waste Cooking.” Students also took to the field: A fungal foray in Central Park to forage, learn about mushroom diversity, and prepare mushroom-centric dishes; a “behind-the-scenes” scavenger hunt at the Museum of Natural History; an excursion to Governors Island to hear from Earth Matter about composting and a wide selection of other educational outings.

To close out the week, students gathered in the Martin Theater to see the presentation Hurricane Diane. This “explored how myth, complacency, and capitalism have contributed to the climate crisis and asks how much are you willing to give up to save the planet?”

In House on Friday, students debriefed and shared the impact of their experiences with one another. “We’re grateful for the many guest presenters who enriched our community with their presence and expertise,” said Celeste.

It was an eye-opening few days. Said presenter Jack Rusk, “Thank you so much for the opportunity and honor of speaking to Dalton students yesterday. They were an engaged and intelligent group of students, whose participation in the session added subtlety to the conversation and made it really fun! Heartening, for me, to talk to a group of young people with interest in the climate crisis. If one of my goals was to message hope to them, they messaged it right back.”