Hackley Hosts Second Annual Round Square Northeast Schools Forum on the Hilltop

Hackley students were joined by groups from the Pennington School in New Jersey and the Nightingale-Bamford School in New York City, which hosted the first such event last year. (Click here to read more about that event in the Summer 2024 issue of the Hackley Review.)

 

Through the lens of bringing the Round Square IDEALS — internationalism, democracy, environmentalism, adventure, leadership and service — to a local level, the focus of this year’s forum was homelessness and its root causes, sustaining systemic factors, and actions we can take for social impact.

 

“The Round Square Forum was very engaging and helped me gain important perspectives on how homelessness affects communities outside of Westchester,” noted Aliya Pine ’25. “It is crucial to expand our connections because by doing so, we can get more people involved in bettering our individual communities and, in the long run, the world.”

 

Throughout the afternoon, students had opportunities to connect and engage in some thoughtful discussions about homelessness. Ms. DeMarchena led them through an activity around “upstream thinking,” and student leaders Rebecca Ingles ’25 and Annabel Previdi ’25 presented about their partnership and work with Breakfast Run, part of Midnight Run, “a volunteer organization dedicated to finding common ground between the housed and the homeless.”

 

“This was a wonderful opportunity to connect with driven students from other schools who are passionate about social change,” said sophomore Lilly Rosenthal. “The Round Square Forum gave us the rare opportunity to sit down and really think through different approaches to combating world issues. My favorite part of the day was when Ms. DeMarchena led us through a powerful analogy to help us separate treating the symptoms of poverty and actually creating systemic change that combats the causes.”

 

Students then enjoyed the opportunity to connect over lunch before engaging in baraza group discussions about homelessness in our local communities and learning about community partners who are doing both “upstream” and “downstream” work, making an immediate impact and also working to change larger systemic issues.

 

"The forum exemplified the Round Square IDEALS at a local level,” added Lila Salemi ’27. “Each school, though nearby, brought varying perspectives and experiences that made for meaningful conversation and collaboration. We discussed the root causes of homelessness and sustaining systemic factors, and we also worked toward impacting our communities by packing hygiene kits for people experiencing homelessness.”

 

Students from the three schools ended the day by packing winter hygiene kits for Breakfast Run to be distributed to those in New York City who need them. The kits included such items as handwarmers, travel size bath gel and lotions and body wipes as a cold-weather alternative, Chapstick/petroleum jelly for cracked lips, toothbrushes and travel-size toothpaste, all donated by the participating schools. Additionally, we were very grateful to receive a generous donation of men’s and women’s socks from Bombas.

 

Bombas is a comfort-focused, basics apparel brand with a mission to help those in need. The company was originally founded in 2013 because socks are the No. 1 most requested clothing item at homeless shelters. Underwear and t-shirts are No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. While the brand started with and is known for its extremely comfortable socks, Bombas used its expertise in comfort to launch into apparel with t-shirts in 2019 and, most recently, underwear in 2021. For every item purchased, a specially designed item is donated to someone at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness. To date, Bombas has donated over 140 million items. 

 

“Saturday’s event was an informative, meaningful and impactful way to connect with other schools to hear firsthand how homelessness manifests itself in different types of communities — specifically in Westchester, New York City and suburban New Jersey,” Annabel noted. “We discussed how to approach the difficult task of looking upstream at an issue that is so entrenched in our system and did research on how organizations in our respective areas are combating the issue. As a leader of the Breakfast Run club at Hackley, this event reinforced my commitment to providing those in need with necessities that they specifically request, and it was especially fulfilling to cap off the event by packing toiletry kits for the people with whom we engage each month.”

 

Round Square is a consortium of more than 150 independent schools around the world that share a commitment to discovering the world and making a difference. Through this membership, Hackley students and faculty are able to participate in a wide range of travel, exchange and hosting opportunities.