Rachel Otty designed the Global Studies Certificate program at CRLS while on a one-semester sabbatical this fall. The requirements of the Global Studies Certificate include completing a portfolio, doing local or global international work of some kind, attending monthly meetings, taking globally-themed classes, enrolling in the GSC senior seminar class, and completing a capstone project. For this year only, the application is open to 9th, 10th, and 11th-grade students, however in the following years, only students at the end of their freshman and sophomore years will be eligible to apply. This is so that students have multiple years to complete the requirements of the program. 

According to Ms. Otty, “The goal in creating the Global Studies Certificate program is to have a more comprehensive program in place that helps to actively build students’ skills around global engagement and activism over a multi-year period, academically and extracurricularly. My hope is that graduating students who were part of this program will go on to do academic, professional, or volunteer work that seeks to make structural change and leaves the world better than they found it.” The program is unique to CRLS, but while on sabbatical, Ms. Otty researched similar programs at other schools and met with teachers there to gather ideas. Ultimately, what she has created is a combination of other schools’ models and her own vision for CRLS.

Ms. Otty is most excited about the part of the program that asks students to get more involved in international issues in the Boston area and beyond. Students can fulfill this part of the program in a variety of ways including volunteering with an organization that works on international issues, working in a job with multicultural connections, traveling abroad, or tutoring recent immigrants in the Boston area. According to Ms. Otty, “I think asking students to intentionally engage with communities outside their own—either locally or internationally—is important in helping students to become more conscious world citizens.”

Ms. Otty continued, “It is critical that our students understand that their reality is authentic but not exclusive, and that to better understand how the world works, they must engage in a rigorous examination of perspectives, rooted in history and culture, in order to act mindfully to improve the world in which they live.” In an increasingly global world, the Global Studies Certificate program will challenge students’ worldviews by engaging with local and international communities of all perspectives.

Applications for interested juniors close on February 7th, while applications for interested 9th and 10th graders close on May 8th. Students will be notified of their acceptance by course selection time in late February. 

This piece also appears in our January 2020 print edition.