Conversations from Across the Global Table

GDS places a strong emphasis throughout the curriculum on preparing students for citizenship. This includes several specialized class projects and programs, such as the Constitutional Issues Project, in which students study the societal impact of key constitutional issues to deepen their understanding of what it means to be an active and responsible citizen. Another example is a workshop designed to sharpen their civil discourse skills, specifically the art of deliberative dialogue, in which GDS students join those from half a dozen other area schools.

Students gain a lot from these experiences, and they are encouraged to keep these skills sharp. But in 2023, Zoe Maas ’26 and a few of her fellow GDS students found themselves facing a growing challenge. Surrounded by classmates, teachers, and parents who all shared similar perspectives, they noticed a glaring lack of differing viewpoints in their social environment when it came to practicing civil discourse.

“We felt stuck in echo chambers, whether on social media, at school, or in our communities,” said Zoe. When she investigated further, classmates shared that they not only felt they lacked access to diverse perspectives, but that when their own views differed from those of the majority, they felt hesitant to speak up for fear of being ostracized. Zoe began looking for solutions. Maybe they could create a forum or a club at GDS focused on dialogue with participants who had more varied outlooks, or at least offer a space where students felt safer sharing differing points of view.

This desire inspired Zoe to create At the Table, an organization dedicated to fostering healthy dialogue and discourse across differences, specifically geared toward high school students. Though the initial founder, Zoe credits her friends and fellow students, who shared her ideas and passions, with helping to grow the idea beyond GDS and bring the fledgling nonprofit to life. These peers took the time to become trained facilitators who led late-night Zooms with students from other schools, engaged with outside speakers whom Zoe brought to campus, and helped lead workshops with students.

Then, in the spring of that year, Zoe attended a teen leadership conference at Harvard University organized by GDS alum Anoushka Chander '21, where high school students were paired with Harvard students to work through leadership challenges. It was there that she heard Mina Holtzman ’27 was looking to solve similar challenges. “Part of the conference involved creating a public service announcement or plan for your community,” said Mina. “I wanted to have unconventional seminars and discussions to kind of burst the bubble, so to speak, because our classmates’ perspectives all tend to align so similarly.” She had had some involvement with the Aspen Institute through a relative and had previously participated in action forums organized by the international nonprofit, which is dedicated to driving change through dialogue. She wanted to use what she had learned from those forums to create discourse seminars for the Harvard project.

Excited by what she heard, Zoe invited Mina to join At The Table, which was already starting to grow beyond the walls of GDS, touching students in both Democratic and Republican states nationwide. “We realized the solution could be something bigger than just a club at GDS, because big organizations like the Aspen Institute were doing very similar things, just aimed towards adults,” said Mina. “They even had some programming for seminars with kids.” 

Zoe and Mina reached out to the Institute. “They have a big initiative that they are working on called the Better Arguments Project, in which they outline key steps for civil discourse,” explained Mina. “They've done a lot of research in that area, so we worked closely with them.”

At the Table now hosts seminars, both summer and school-year fellowships, and includes initiatives such as lower and middle school curricula and a podcast. Then, early last spring, they expanded to include students not only from across the country but also from around the world. “We began having conversations with people from a few different countries, and then all of a sudden, it sort of exploded and took off,” said Mina, explaining that global interest grew exponentially.

At the Table now has chapters in many countries, including the Philippines, Egypt, France, the U.K., Sweden, and Germany, as well as in various U.S. states, including Montana, Texas, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania. “I think some of our most interesting conversations were the ones with kids in other countries who were dealing with international issues and were actually living them, and could share those experiences directly with us,” said Mina.

“I've always been passionate about civil discourse and fostering conversations across differences. So this was something I was really inspired and excited to create, and it's just been really cool to see how much it has grown and how many people are involved right now,” said Zoe, explaining her initial hope was to foster respectful, constructive dialogue and to empower teens to bring those skills and new perspectives back to their communities. Now Zoe is also working directly with the Lower Middle School to teach lessons on respectful conversations, addressing questions such as: “What do you do if you and your friend disagree?” as she believes it is important to develop these skills early.

“When we’re able to teach kids how to disagree with someone but still have respect for them and handle the conversation in a civil way, to still look at that person with empathy, then those important skills can be used as a person gets older,” she said. “It’s going to help shape the next generation of leaders who can then disagree with each other but still have humility and respect.”