Local & Global Engagement

"We cannot change the world if we isolate ourselves in privileged spaces."Bryan Stevenson, Castilleja School, January 2018

Castilleja students sense the urgency to effect change in a world that is challenged by environmental, political, and social issues and an ever widening economic divide. Leading from a place of initiative, agility, and purpose underpins each student’s leadership journey at Castilleja. Despite the sense of urgency, students learn that it is through intentional, time intensive practices like developing empathy and purposeful reflection that they will gain the capacity to effect sustainable, mutually agreed upon change in their immediate, local, or global community.

Partnerships are integral to our leadership program.

Through her time on campus and in our experiential programming, each student comes to understand that authentic leadership is found when meaningful relationships locally and globally, premised on respect and genuine curiosity for one another, underpin civil discourse, debates, hard decisions, and one’s decision to stand up for a point of view of another person or group.

Local Partners

Founded upon the commitment to serving one’s community, a Castilleja education extends far beyond the classroom. We encourage our girls to explore a wide variety of service-focused activities throughout Palo Alto, across Silicon Valley, and beyond by partnering with over 40 regional community organizations.

Global Partners

Partners are strongly committed to creating and fostering a long-term, deep, broad relationship with Castilleja students and faculty. Often there is an opportunity for the Castilleja community to further the partnership by raising funds or providing resources to partners so that reciprocal learning can be enhanced; when this is the case, Castilleja is committed to developing a model of giving that respects the dual nature of the relationship and honors the fact that each community has as much to learn as it has to give.

At Castilleja, global engagement is embedded into our curriculum via practical, impactful projects. Two key annual touch points for Castilleja's global engagement program are the Junior Global Investigator Trips and Global Week.

Global Week

Global Investigator Trips

The endowed Global Investigator Trip, started in 2008, ensures that all juniors have the opportunity for an issues-based experience outside the United States. This signature Castilleja program is designed to enable unique experiential learning opportunities for juniors.

Destinations and issues have included global environmental sustainability in China, ending generational poverty through girls’ empowerment in the Dominican Republic, factors shaping Senegal’s development, from the continued effects of the nation’s history - including deeply-rooted ethnic identities as well as the presence of foreign powers during colonialism - to modern trends of migration.

Students are able to witness the socio-political and economic complexities of globalization by collaborating with social change agents, educators, and students on the ground at Global Investigator destinations.

On each Global Investigator Trip, participants develop empathy, knowledge, and cultural competence through:

Examining the political, economic, and social realities of the region through personal connections
Partnering with local communities/groups/students/learners
Sharing daily life with the same age group in the local community
Designing and implementing projects highlighting cross-cultural connections as a resource

Global Partnerships

The Castilleja Partnership Model holds at its core a commitment to reciprocal learning. Reciprocal learning mandates that partnerships members actively engage in collaborative projects, share common intellectual pursuits, and exchange and celebrate their cultural similarities and differences across grade-level and curriculum.

Partners are strongly committed to creating and fostering a long-term, deep, broad relationships with Castilleja students and faculty. Often there is an opportunity for the Castilleja community to further the partnership by raising funds or providing resources to partners so that reciprocal learning can be enhanced; when this is the case, Castilleja is committed to developing a model of giving that respects the dual nature of the relationship and honors the fact that each community has as much to learn as it has to give.

Partners offer a breadth of opportunities through which reciprocal learning occurs ranging from volunteer opportunities to internships to global investigator trips.

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