Beth Young - Round Square Conference report

Visit to the Round Square Conference

Members of the Bridge of Allan and Dunblane Rotary Club at its Thursday’s meeting responded warmly to the introduction by the Secretary, Iain Fraser, of a new member to the Club. Hugh McCrea, a resident of Dunblane and previously a Rotary Club member of some years’ standing, was received with applause.  Also welcomed to the meeting was Beth Young who, at twelve years-old, is almost certainly the youngest speaker to address the Club. 

President Mary Fraser introduced Beth who, aged then only 11, had joined other young people from the United Kingdom to attend an international conference in Romania of the Round Square organization.  Beth attends Beaconhurst School where she is an accomplished swimmer, representing both the School and the Stirling Swimming Club.  Her ambition, she revealed, is to be a clothes designer in New York.  Obviously a young person with a clear ambition.

Beth described her (understandable) nervousness in travelling to an unknown country, known to her only by reference to Count Dracula and vampires.  She was, she said, soon disabused of these notions by the Romanians she met, who had some equally unrealistic notions about the haggis-eating inhabitants of Scotland.  Arriving in Romania, she was greatly taken by the beautiful, colourful buildings and by the ever-present blue sky.

The Conference she attended was organized by Round Square, a worldwide network of innovative schools in 40 countries across five continents. Founded in 1966, Round Square maintains and facilitates a worldwide network of 150 schools in 40 countries, with in the region of 90,000 students and a teacher/management workforce of around 7,500.

Beth explained the all these schools share an approach to learning built around six IDEALS of learning. The six IDEALS are based on Internationalism, Democracy, Environmentalism, Adventure, Leadership and Service. Members of the Round Square network work to achieve excellence and continuous improvement, along with opportunities to work together and share experiences with like-minded students around the world.  Working together, each school shares and benefits from others’ ideas, methods, experience, locally, regionally and internationally. In joining the Round Square Network, member schools make a commitment to embedding the shared IDEALS throughout every learning activity within the school.

Beth reported the camp she attended was up in the mountains, which were as beautiful as those in Scotland, but even higher.  The focus of her Conference was on leadership and democracy, with workshops designed to help those taking part to learn new skills and to share their views and experiences. In the course of the Conference, members got practical experience by helping with the organization of a local marathon run.

All those at the Conference worked well together, and Beth was surprised at how well the majority of those there spoke English.  She didn’t find any difficulty in making herself understood, or understanding others.

All in all, she had greatly enjoyed and benefitted from her attendance at the Conference, and she thanked the Club for the financial contribution it had made to her fund-raising needed to pay for her attendance.

Following her talk, which was very warmly received by Members, she replied to some questions.  What had she learned?  “How to be a leader; how to know oneself; to be confident and not to be scared”.  What had she enjoyed most and least?  “I enjoyed being treated as a grown-up; sharing with the group of 11 to 13 year-olds; and being treated as someone special.  I didn’t enjoy the plane journey where I was sitting beside people that I didn’t know who weren’t going to the Conference”.  How would you like to follow this up?  “  I would like to find out more about places like India and Africa where there are problems to be solved”.

Laurie Orr, the Speaker’s Host, congratulated Beth on her talk.  It had been both interesting and enjoyable, and an extraordinary achievement of a 12 year-old.  The Club was delighted to have been able to help her, and wished her very well for her future.