Round Square’s Global Community Conversations create opportunities for PD students to partner with peers around the world in an engaging virtual format.

Global Community Conversations (GCC) take place over Zoom every other Wednesday morning for an hour of intellectual exchange. GCC participants learn about diverse perspectives, connect with peers, and have fun engaging in discussion about student facilitator-chosen themes. A variety of political, cultural, and social topics including mainstream media, virtual civilization and fake news, and the question of, “is it ethical to be a billionaire?” are topics previously led by PD student facilitators.

Each of the facilitators shares an interest in hearing other people’s perspectives. “We have issues in the US that could be completely different in other countries and we sometimes take that for granted,” says Ivy Brainard ‘23.  Her discussion was about cancel culture because, “my partner was from South Africa and there is a lot of fake news there and it happens in a lot of other countries, too. My partner said the reason they do that is they look at the US as a role model – like a lot of other countries do – and experience fake news, some on a big and small scale, compared to us.” 

No topic is off the table for discussion. In the first GCC Brainard attended the topic was racism. “I was interested because in the US racism is so different than in Egypt and it’s what hooked me, hearing other people’s perspectives,” she says. “No one will judge you for asking questions and everyone is there to support your learning which I really like. I feel like people are scared to ask questions in today’s society, even when you are trying to get to know our culture and what’s right or wrong.” In these Round Square discussions, “I’m not afraid to ask questions and no one else is afraid either,” Brainard says.

For some of the facilitators, the current lack of travel opportunities opened new doors. “I started it this year when most of our Global Studies Diploma opportunities have been virtual,” says Ijeoma Eziri ‘22. “I thought it would be an interesting way to talk about popular topics with people around the world which is not something I would be able to do normally. I really wanted to enjoy the opportunity.”

Eziri partnered with a student from Colombia and chose a topic they both related to and care about. “We chose mainstream media and our subtopics were cultural appropriation and how media affects mental health and cultural monetization,” she says. “It was interesting and the biggest takeaway is that with the US media, everyone hears about it around the world, but we don’t really hear about what happens in other people’s media. In order to preserve indigenous cultures, it’s important to shine the spotlight on other countries and cultures and to use the media to do that since it’s a global technology that everyone uses.”

The conversations flow differently in the student-only format than if an adult joined the discussion. “The fact that it was a conversation with people my age in a casual tone was really appealing and encouraged people to talk more freely,” Eziri says. “In class, a lot of people don’t want to be judged and there are a lot of similar opinions because they don’t want to be on the outside. But Round Square is such a diverse group that everyone has such different viewpoints and encourages diverse perspectives.”

Undoubtedly, the experience is positive for the GCC leaders. “I’m a Global Studies Diploma leader and a Model UN leader and I’ve always been interested in talking about global issues with other people,” says William Kirshbom ‘22. “I just enjoy doing the research and getting people to talk about it. A lot of what we talked about in history class came up in our discussions which I thought was interesting.”

As the other facilitators said, an advantage of the student-only GCC conversation format is the ability to speak freely without judgment. “This is a safe space to put up alternative arguments and play devil’s advocate and back it up with logic and facts, “Kirshbom says. “I like that people feel safe disagreeing which makes the discussion far more beneficial to everyone.” 

Partnering with a student from another country enriches the overall experience. “When I got together with my partner the first time to talk about my discussion guide, we realized that we had incredibly different opinions on what we wanted to talk about,” Kirshbom acknowledges. “It was about international trade and my partner told me what I wanted to talk about was incredibly boring and she was right!” After further planning discussions with his partner, they came up with a topic of income inequality and class relations with race as a subtopic, which ultimately led to a productive and rewarding conversation.

Learn more about Round Square and Global Education at Providence Day School.