| Wilbraham & Monson Academy is proud to be sponsoring the WMA REAL concert.
Educating students for the responsibilities of global citizenship distinguishes
Wilbraham & Monson Academy from other independent schools. We are
moving beyond the traditional forms of academic challenge to a curriculum
and experiences that integrate the notion that to be well educated for
the 21st century means a student must also live as a global citizen. Sponsoring
this concert is but one way we help each of our students gain direct experience
as such a citizen.
With the advent of a ubiquitous and instantaneous communication system,
aka the Internet, the global playing field has been substantially leveled.
The last decade has presented all of us with the prospect of nuclear weapons
in the hands of hostile nations; environmental degradation, including
global warming; the spread of AIDS, especially in Africa and now in Asia;
the actuality of terrorism on our home soil; the changing nature of economic
competition to a global, not a local or national, scene; and the truly
serious prospect of a bird flu pandemic. All of these present dangers
are global in nature. But globalization isn’t an ideology or a belief
system. It simply is the practical glue of daily life for individuals
and nations. Evidence of globalization is everywhere – our words,
our food, our autos, our computers, our clothes, our banking, and even
our national debt exhibit global connections
We’re preparing our students to grapple with these immense challenges
in several significant and related ways. Our distinctive Center for Entrepreneurial
& Global Studies thrusts students into both the theory and the practice
of a global economy. As part of that program our students have been studying,
both peaceful and violent social change in Africa.
Today, students from around the world and across the United States, some
of them studying in our merit-based Bicentennial Scholars program, find
demanding intellectual experiences and a rich residential school life
at our 201-year-old Academy. It is our mission to prepare the rising generation
for positions of leadership in their neighborhoods and in the world. This
is why we help each student grow in athletic skills, personal relationships,
character building, and the development of his or her personal identity.
Rodney LaBrecque
Head of School
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