Postcards from the Front :
Building a Civics Program
By Amy Enright The Rivers School • Weston , MA
When I told my parents that I was throwing my hat in the ring for a job that would split my time between teaching History and developing a civics program at the Rivers School where I had taught for the last 13 years , my Dad was only mildly encouraging . I could immediately guess what he was thinking and not saying : why would anyone volunteer to stand in the cross fire of today ’ s culture wars ? Now , four years and several national crises later , the divisions that wracked American society in 2017 seem rather quaint but , at the time , we were all concerned by the degree of political politization and news silo-ing . The new job , Director of the Center for Community & Civic Engagement , was an entirely new position that had to be built from the ground up , and adults and students along the political spectrum were bound to have expectations and opinions about the CCCE ’ s role within the school . Here , I offer three observations from my experience breaking into the ‘ civics space ’ for those educators and administrators who are contemplating bringing civics into their communities for the first time or with new intentionality . Here is what I wish I had known from the beginning ...
Page 6 Summer 2021 CSEE Connections