Guest Speaker StGIS Inspirational Speaker Series

[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” style=”margin: 0px;padding: 25px 0px 10px;”][cs_row inner_container=”false” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”2/3″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]It was such an honour to speak at St Gilgen international boarding school in Austria. What a beautiful town and an impressive group of students, parents and faculty.

 

[x_pullquote type=”left”]The speakers programme is co-founded with the author, actress and social activist Waris Dirie – The Desert Flower Foundation[/x_pullquote]

The school is very interesting in and of itself – it combines international school community with local life, challenges and supports the students, from 9-18 years old, to pursue their studies and explore the beautiful natural environment surrounding St Gilgen.

 

The speakers programme is co-founded with the author, actress and social activist Waris Dirie – The Desert Flower Foundation. Petra Stelzer, one of the students’ parent and the one who invited me to come and give my talk presented the speakers programme this way in her first email to me:

“We started this program to make a difference as a school, as a community  and to show our students that there is not only ‘one way of living’ – there are so many different ones out there in the world and we want them to have the opportunity to meet inspiring people while they are part of our school community.”

A part from giving a talk in the local cinema, I facilitated a workshop with a group of students and teachers on the day after. It was truly inspiring for me to listen to their aspirations and concerns about how to choose the right education for the world of tomorrow. How to remain resilient in a rapidly changing world and how to preserve their sense of value, aspirations and integrity.

[x_blockquote type=”left”]They raised a lot of interesting questions and thoughts about how to address anxiety, how to learn to listen to their inner voice, take steps to follow their true sense of purpose or passions in life[/x_blockquote]

They raised a lot of interesting questions and thoughts about how to address anxiety, how to learn to listen to their inner voice, take steps to follow their true sense of purpose or passions in life. They were sincere, brave and forward thinking in our discussions.

Among the things I discussed with the faculty was how St Gilgen can better incorporate creativity and ways to better master intuition in the curriculum. After all, creativity is one of top 3 most sought after skills for the year 2020, according to the World Economic Forum. And, our intuition is a much bigger part than we realise of the decisions we take and the ideas we come up with.  We also explored ways in which schools today can better prepare students for the unknown future.

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