Foxcroft Academy teachers and students attend ‘Russia Resurgent’, the 28th annual Camden Conference

    ROCKLAND — During the last weekend of winter break, five Foxcroft Academy students — Marie Hartung, Racquel Bozzelli, Sarah Phillips, Chyo Kim,  and Hunter Giacomuzzi — and four teachers — Ernie Thomas, Nick Lavigne, Julie Willcott and Mirna Henderson — attended the renowned Camden Conference at one of its remote locations in Rockland. For the past 27 years, the Camden Conference has committed itself to bringing experts from around the world to educate in the realm of foreign affairs and foster informed discourse on world issues. The topics vary from year to year, and most recently have included “The Global Politics of Food and Water” and “The Middle East, What’s Next?”

Photo courtesy of Julie Willcott/Foxcroft Academy

    CAMDEN CONFERENCE ATTENDEES — Foxcroft Academy students and teachers attending the Camden Conference last month in Rockland were, from left, Marie Hartung, Ernie Thomas, Racquel Bozzelli, Sarah Phillips, Nick Lavigne, Chyo Kim, Hunter Giacomuzzi and Mirna Henderson. The 2015 conference topic was “Russia Resurgent.”

    This year’s conference was titled “Russia Resurgent” and was uniquely given a grant, funded by the Lerner Foundation, that financed a pilot “Curriculum Enrichment Program.” This pilot program was developed to provide resources to high school teachers and their students that are vital to preparing the next generation of citizens and policy leaders to face the complex challenges of the global community.
    The three-day conference dovetailed perfectly with Mr. Thomas’s yearlong class titled “21st Century Russia.” In preparation for the conference, students were required to explore Russia’s more recent history, beginning with its last Czar, Nicholas II. After students acquired a basic understanding of Russian history, culture and geopolitical influences, they were required to analyze current Russian foreign policy decisions. Central to the class was the conference, where they heard from an array of academics, statesmen and journalists who came from around the world to share their varied perspectives concerning today’s Russia.
    “I found that Mr. Thomas did a great job in providing us a strong base for the Camden Conference,” said junior Racquel Bozzelli. “The speakers at the conference expanded from this base we were given, so while we did not understand everything, we were able to sit in on all the speakers and have a very good idea of both their points of view and the history they were describing. The speakers branched off from what we had been taught and they spoke about topics that we had only had time to do maybe a video on, but they spoke about topics they were passionate about. The speakers also gave us different perspectives. They were from various countries and backgrounds so they all provided a different idea, but having had the course I felt like I was able to connect in some level to all the speakers no matter how different they all seemed.”
    Bozzelli remarked that all the speakers were gracious in taking the time to more fully explain complex ideas to younger members of the audience. “The part of the conference that I found the most valuable was the question-and-answer session. The speakers were not speaking for students only, and because of this sometimes it became difficult to follow everything they were speaking about. The Q&A allowed the speakers to focus on one topic and most of the questions asked were ones I was wondering myself, so for the speakers to take the time to explain in a different way what they were saying was very helpful in understanding their overall message.”
    Thomas’s students will cap off the class with a 10-page essay that will be entered into a contest sponsored by the Camden Conference.