Written by Sue Bear P’16 ’19, Parent Association co-chair

More than 50 parents attended the two-part Parent Association Assembly, How Does Beaver Teach Leadership, Civic Engagement, and Social Justice?, on January 27.

In the first half of the assembly, Director of the Hiatt Center Liz Skinner presented a thoughtful and informative vision on engagement. She shared how she encourages students to meet with her to explore possible leadership, civic engagement, and social justice projects. Department Heads Lisa Brown (English), Yolanda Wilcox González (History), and Meera Shah (Science) then discussed how these themes are woven in coursework and projects throughout all disciplines.

In the second half of the assembly, parents saw activism in action when students from the Beaver Gives Back Club held a cyber skills class to parents. In the class, parents were able to work with students to understand the functions and create personal accounts on Snapchat, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.

Izzy Lamb ’20, who worked with a parents in the Twitter workshop, said, “Parents were more aware of how to use social media apps than I thought. They were more interested in social media etiquette and I could not help but laugh when a parent asked; how many posts of our family dog is too many in one day?” The student led workshops were so popular, there was a request for a second session.

Thanks to the faculty and students who made this event a rousing success. If you weren’t able to join the session, you can view the Beaver Gives Back cyber skills presentation here.