In early 2019, 85-year-old Jane Goodall traveled across the world to New Zealand. On May 25th, she graced Kristin School with her presence. Though she only stopped by for a few hours, her wise words still inspire students months later.
This was not a surprise visit.
On March 2019: "You want to know something crazy, Jane Goodall might be visiting our school next term." - Something along the lines of Ms. Wakeford.
Preparation began months before the visit. In April, Ms. Wakeford assembled a team of students to organize a compassionate leadership workshop with Jane Goodall. Aspiring environmental leaders were invited from 8 Auckland schools to participate in the workshop which was planned to feature the 9 compassionate leadership traits from the roots & shoots program. We hoped to reassure Jane Goodall of all the great things the youth are doing to save the world. We also wanted to inspire all of the students with Jane Goodall's wisdom and optimism.
The visiting day
Jane Goodall arrived at our school at around 1pm. She visited every part of the school, starting in the kindergarten where they sung a beautiful welcome waiata for her. She had a nice afternoon tea with some kindergarten and junior school students and even joining in on a few classroom activities herself. It was 2pm and time to head down to the Kristin bush. A group of students from the junior school headed down to the push with her, with a few tree seedlings and gloves in tow. Jane Goodall emphasizes the importance of a connection to nature at a young age, so it was fitting when Jane Goodall planted a tree with the support of Kristin’s youngest.
Her time at the junior school concluded with a goodbye to the students she went tree-planting with. At the end of the school day, she headed over to the library, to meet the eager group of Auckland senior schools students.
Compassionate Leadership Workshop
Jane Goodall created the set of 9 traits of a compassionate leader. These are a guide for the youth who are part of her global Roots & Shoots movement. At Kristin, we support many of these common leadership characteristics. However, during her visit, the organizers of the workshop (Kristin SS students) emphasized the unique traits on her set. Being introspective was one of the unique traits that Jane Goodall has brought to the table. Introspection is defined as the “examination of one mental and emotional processes.” In terms of leadership this means examining how your beliefs affect the world around you. As we led the workshop we made this a key part of our discussion, as we examined how each school had demonstrated leadership for sustainability. We then heard Jane Goodall give her personal feedback from all that she had heard today. Filled with optimism, her motivating words praised our current action. She advised us that one of the most important things to success was the relationships we build with people, and how we include them in our work and projects.
- Chris Furlong
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