Global Youth Leadership Institute event explores concepts of identity, community

The world has grown increasingly interconnected for the more than 100 Detroit Country Day School students and 20 faculty members, who benefitted from a lively event featuring members of the Global Youth Leadership Institute (GYLI), aimed at recognizing commonalities across cultures and communities through the concept of identity.

For more than ten years, DCDS has partnered with GYLI to encourage students to explore more about the world around them, and to build essential skills and knowledge, such as collaborative leadership, environmental sustainability, multicultural understanding, and religious pluralism. Matt Nink, executive director of GYLI and Dr. Ulric Johnson, founding director of Teens Against Gang Violence and an instructor in the GYLI program, presented at the event and ran activities that dealt with topics such as leadership, language, and stereotypes.

“A well-rounded education does not only teach ideas and lessons in a classroom, but also applies those concepts to experiences in the outside world,” said Glen Shilling, DCDS Headmaster. “GYLI helps students experience new challenges and consider academic and abstract ideas in a personal way, which is particularly important as we live in an increasingly global community. At Detroit Country Day, we help students build critical leadership skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.”

Each summer, a group of DCDS students participates in GYLI’s summer programs, which pair an exciting and adventurous experience—such as a multi-day voyage learning to pilot a historic schooner Tall Ship—with a rich and thought-provoking curriculum encouraging students to reflect and contemplate questions about their own role in society.

Nink and Johnson presented on the 5C’s of identity—color, culture, class, character and context—and conducted an engaging discussion and variety of activities aimed at encouraging students to consider abstract ideas and create a more cohesive community.

This summer, a group of DCDS Upper School students will travel to Mystic Seaport, the mountains of New Mexico, and Costa Rica to explore the “personal geography” of leadership–a person’s individual vision and unique direction.

Detroit Country Day School offers students from preschool through high school an exemplary education rooted in academic rigor and a commitment to the full development of each student’s potential. The school is an independent, coeducational, non-denominational, college preparatory school nationally recognized for excellence in academics, athletics and the fine and performing arts. Founded in 1914 by F. Alden Shaw, Detroit Country Day School today enrolls more than 1,500 students on four campuses located in Beverly Hills and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. For additional information, please visit www.dcds.edu.