Round Square is a path to the world
Round Square is a coalition of 150 schools around the world which share a commitment, beyond academic excellence, to personal development and responsibility.
The Round Square programme gives BHS students fantastic opportunities to travel and experience different cultures through conferences, exchanges and service projects. Every student who attends a Round Square trip comes home with increased confidence, a broader world view, increased appreciation for how lucky they are to live in Bermuda, and new life-long friends. BHS has been a Round Square global member since 2005, and is the only school in Bermuda to be a part of this international organisation.
Round Square of the America’s
Conference, New York Over five days in April, three Middle School students had the experience of a lifetime when they attended the Round Square of the Americas Conference in New
18 Torchbearer Fall 2017
York. Sabree Botelho ‘21, Skye Oliveira ‘21 and Maya Luthi ’23 all took part in the conference and enjoyed five days of planned activities, discussion groups, educational outings and the experience of living with a host family. On the first day, the girls had a guided tour of the UN with other student delegates from all over the Americas. Skye said, “The UN was fascinating because we were able to understand what the UN does for the world and we were able to see what the ambassadors do and where they sit.” They also had the opportunity to listen to Sana Mustafa, a Syrian refugee who has been in the US since 2013. She originally came for a six-week exchange programme with the US Government, but while she was there, her father, a political and human rights activist, was kidnapped, and her life was forever changed. Her mother and two sisters were smuggled to Turkey and she has not seen them since, nor has she had any news about her father in over three years. Sana was granted political asylum in the US, and managed to secure a scholarship to study at Bard University. She
now spends her time talking and educating people about the situation in Syria and the plight of refugees. On the second day, the girls heard from
a Broadway actress who spoke about freedom of speech, and they attended a production of “Cats”. Split into different Barazza groups (a Round Square term for small discussion groups), Sabree, Skye and Maya met new friends, discussed differing opinions and broadened their horizons on a variety of issues surrounding freedom of speech. Says Maya, “The discussions in the Barazza groups taught me to be accepting and open-minded of other people’s opinions and to be confident and have my own voice heard.”
When asked about their favourite parts of the trip, the girls each enjoyed different aspects. Sabree said, “I really enjoyed the debrief at the end of the day in our Barazza groups, especially when we discussed how democracy was involved in the Arts. I also really enjoyed having a day to spend with our host families and getting to know them better.”
Skye enjoyed their outing to Chinatown,
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