A Year 2 Reflection: Empathy to Impact

Aaron Moniz at AES in the spring of 2023; Aaron works with leaders, teachers and students at AES to embed K-12 Global Citizenship at the school.

When Kevin David came to the American Embassy School of New Delhi (AES) in August of 2021, he took on a service learning role with the high school. The timing coincided with the second year of a partnership between AES and Inspire Citizens. In his role, Kevin has a unique vantage point to see how the partnership is growing, and how teaching and learning are being impacted. 

“The school motto here is ‘Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve’ and that is absolutely where I am at in my career,” reflects Kevin. “There’s been a great deal of fantastic service work here over a long period of time, and I’ve been really impressed by how Aaron and the Inspire Citizens team have put things together. You can see how teachers in different divisions are approaching teaching and learning differently because of the Empathy to Impact approach.” 

Kevin is now the K-12 Service Learning Co-ordinator and next year he will also take on the high school Design program. 

“I’m excited to see the high school makerspace become a service-by-design, service-oriented program,” says Kevin. “AES has a really solid community network and I am excited to employ a service cycle similar to Empathy to Impact that space.” 

Kevin feels the Inspire Citizens protocols for curriculum design at AES can also be used to support service learning at all levels in the school. 

Inspire Citizens co-founder Aaron Moniz was on campus in April working with various groups on strategic planning and curriculum integration, and with individual teachers and teams to continue developing unit plans. He worked with teams across the K-12 spectrum and Kevin was able shadow Aaron throughout the week. 

“Overall, service doesn’t necessarily have to be a grand production. Sometimes the smallest tweaks and looking at what you’re teaching and why you’re teaching it can help you arrive at deeply impactful work,” says Kevin. “The important thing is meeting teachers where they’re at in terms of comfort, readiness and understanding.”

Kevin will be working with teams as they continue planning and designing their service curriculum.

Kevin David working on a collaborative art therapy experience with the neurodiverse artist of the Shaurya Foundation Trust and AES students.