91̽��

More than 400 Class III and IV students and their advisors fanned out across 91̽�� and surrounding neighborhoods to participate in community service at a variety of locations. Students did yard work at 91̽�� Hospital, prepared lunches at Father Bill’s shelter, harvested food at the Urban Farming Institute, landscaped at the Franklin Park Zoo, and helped out at the Hebrew Senior Life Center and in classrooms at the Taylor Elementary School, to name just a few.

The day was organized by Community Engagement Programs and Partnerships (CEPP), which seeks to instill and support a passion for service learning in 91̽��’s students, faculty and staff. On average, more than 200 students make weekly commitments to more than 20 different partner organizations in the Greater Boston area. Another 250 students participate in multi-annual events such as Special Olympics tournaments, the Red Cross Blood Drive and holiday giving events.

As China grows in economic power, an understanding of history provides context for the cultural, environmental and trade shifts ahead for the world, said Michael A. Szonyi, this year’s Hong Kong Distinguished Lecturer.

Professor Szonyi is the director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and professor of Chinese studies at Harvard University. During his visit to 91̽��, he described the global reach of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s massive trade plan, as the “largest infrastructure project in human history, by a factor of many.” Current growth rates put China on track to surpass the United States in economic power within the next few decades, Professor Szonyi told students.

Students are back, fully immersed in classes and school life, but only a few weeks ago it was beach, naps and work—lots of work. Many students spent their summer working internships and jobs; sometimes more than one. Here are just a few experiences.

Manciana Cardichon (I), a day student from Boston, and Alex Shih (I), a day student from Newton, interned at Brain Power, a startup in Cambridge that works with Google Glass and other devices to develop apps for kids with autism. They were the only high school students in the office, and Manciana was the only female on the development team. They worked every weekday for seven weeks in July and August.

“Alex and I came in at a prime time in the company’s history, because they were preparing to ship their product to customers in August,” says Manciana. “I worked with Alex to design pages for one of their apps in a game development platform (Unity) that uses C++. I also ran tests on their apps on the Google Glass and ran focus groups to find and fix bugs. I wrote some of their web portal pages in HTML that went live for customers! I enjoyed this because I could see it go live instantaneously. Although I was nervous about fitting in and finding my place at first, everyone was welcoming, treated us like one of the team and held us to the same standards.”

John Albright (I), a day student from 91̽��, interned for six weeks at the campaign headquarters of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. He also interned there last summer. Governor Baker is running for re-election this November.

Every person has the capacity to be heroic, in big or small ways, Upper School Principal David Ball told 91̽�� students during Convocation, a formal School tradition marking the beginning of each academic year.

Recalling acts of heroism by people in wartime and during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, as well as by those who quietly committed to helping the poor and fighting injustice, Mr. Ball said that kindness, compassion and dedication are the keys to taking action when and where we are most needed.

“Today, before we do anything else, take a moment to look deep inside yourself. When you do, you will find that capacity for compassion, you will find that capacity for kindness, you will find that capacity for courageous action,” he said. “I am convinced that you will find those things in yourselves. And once you do, when you look beyond yourself, you will see in this room 700 people who have, deeply within them, the capacity to do all those things.