Big Questions. Big Conversations Big Opportunities.

Truth, respect, and kindness are Forman School’s core values. They are also the pillars of a new program launched this school year to build integral skills for students’ success beyond Forman.

Allie Maxwell, Assistant Head of School for Internal Affairs, spearheaded the new program, TReK, or Truth, Respect, and Kindness Expedition/Experience. The ‘e’ stands for expedition or experience, depending on the programming. There is one expedition at the beginning of the year and experiences throughout the year.

“The goal [of TReK] is to have a holistic way of talking about how we support the development of social-emotional learning skills and how students engage with the world, whether that’s related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging work, social justice work, or how do you make a change in your community,” Maxwell says.

The TReK program was created out of the desire to replace Saturday classes with an innovative and transformative experience that would still keep students engaged.

Students write gratitude notes during the “Are We Connected?” TReK.

“We looked at how we could be more intentional about programming and our time, and understanding that we are a traditional boarding school and that we had Saturday classes, but do Saturday classes really meet the needs of our students,” she says. “I think it’s specifically important to keep [students with learning differences] in routine, but we’re also finding it’s incredibly important to find downtime for students.”

Henry White ’22, who has enjoyed the shift to TReKs this year, says, “I think the TReKs really help kids keep an open mind moving forward in their experience here at Forman. It gives them clarity and a better perspective on themselves.”

Expeditions

Each class journeyed on a different expedition at the start of the 2021-2022 school year. Freshmen and sophomores participated in activities that encapsulated the core values and camped on the athletic fields on campus. Juniors stayed overnight at Camp Hazen YMCA in Chester, CT, where they engaged in team-building exercises and recreation activities like kayaking and archery. Meanwhile, seniors and post-graduate students had an exhilarating time whitewater rafting, zip-lining, and camping at Zoar Outdoor in Charlemont, MA.

“It was a really nice way for our new students and

Henry White ’22, Kunal Dhage ’22, and Weston Stauffer ’22 camp out during a TReK.

returning students to come together to think about Students what it means to be part of our community and have Overnight conversations about truth, respect, and kindness in an Caption experiential learning space,” Maxwell says.

“I loved getting a chance to bond and connect more with others,” Henry adds. “Throughout this first TReK, I was able to grow closer with some of my fellow classmates and develop stronger friendships.”

Experiences

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last school year, Forman faculty read and discussed the book 9 BIG Questions Schools Must Answer to Avoid Going ‘Back to Normal’ (*Because ‘Normal’ Wasn’t That Great to Begin With) by BIG Questions Institute co-founders, Will Richardson and Homa Tavangar. The book presents questions for educators to use as a moment of reflection and reinvention, such as “Who is Unheard?” and “Are We Connected?”

“I loved getting a chance to bond and connect more with others.”

—HENRY WHITE ’22

“We raised a lot of important questions and had fruitful discussions regarding Forman in the present day and our hopes for Forman in the future,” Head of School Adam K. Man P’15 says.

This school year, faculty have continued those conversations in committees around each big question and focused on identifying ways to achieve goals in those areas. As part of that process, committee groups plan TReK experiences framed around the questions.

“The [programming allows] students to wrestle with some of the same topics and ideas that our faculty are talking about,” Maxwell says. “We’re pushing our students to really think about 21st-century learning skills in their Saturday programming.”

The first TReK experience focused on community and embracing storytelling to look at what is sacred for people along their journeys. Students attended a presentation by Saul Flores, a philanthropist, photojournalist, and speaker nationally recognized for his social impact projects. Through a recent project, Flores documents the lives of thousands of Latin American immigrants to fundraise for an elementary school in his mother’s hometown.

“Saul Flores was amazing,” says Ben Wildstein ’22. “Hearing his stories and the struggles he had to endure while traveling in Central America [and] taking pictures was inspiring.”

To address the question, “Are We Ok?” faculty presented a wellness fair featuring activities from puppy therapy to a push-up challenge to boost physical, socialemotional, cognitive, and spiritual well-being on campus.

“I feel like TReKs on campus really bring out the best in people,” says Henry. “During the wellness fair TReK, I felt instantly connected with my group. It gave everyone an opportunity to be vulnerable with others and share what they were feeling about things deep inside. Hearing people be honest with each other and connect made me feel like I knew these people all my life. I was just so amazed.”

A virtual career fair, which featured alumni from various professions, prompted an inquisitive experience around the question, “What is Learning?” The alumni panel included Jennifer Winkler Balzi ’90 (healthcare), Michael Gluck ’06 (law), Rachel Hafer ’11 (education), Everett Kelsey ’84 (film and theater production), and Jared LaVergne ’12 (marketing and communications).

“Our students asked amazing questions and learned from our alumni about how their learning at Forman can inform their future career choices,” says Dr. Lori Bush P’25, Dean of Learning and Innovation.

“For students who are neurodivergent learners, they sometimes have this preconceived notion that I can’t do this or I couldn’t be a lawyer because I’m dyslexic,” adds Associate Head of School Mike Kowalchick. “Michael Gluck said, ‘I just had to realize I had to reread things or had to approach it this way or the questions I was thinking about were ones that no one else had that were good questions.’”

Additional TReK experiences have included a presentation by Co-Director of the Teaching Artist Project Dale Novella Anderson-Lee, followed by dialogue around issues of diversity and equity, as well as a scavenger hunt where students discovered different forms of literacy in buildings across campus.

“With [the introduction of TReK], I was able to learn and experience things that I would not be able to in class,” says Ben.

What’s Next?

Maxwell says she plans to incorporate even more exciting expedition programming and get students involved in planning the experiences. The goal, she adds, is to instill the School’s core values into everyone and everything at Forman.

“My hope would be that we could get to a place where we would have a way of talking about TReK in relation to advisory and really be able to show the threads that connect to this program in our every day,” she says.

Seniors experience whitewater rafting during their TReK at Zoar Outdoor.