Private school class helps students develop questions for
dignitaries during trip to D.C.
Watsonville – Windy fogged-in roads, woodsy smells, lanky trees dripping with morning dew – that’s daily life for students attending Mt. Madonna School, a private institution nestled in the heavily forested hills above the town of Watsonville.
But the atypical learning environment doesn’t end on the doorstep. A peek into a classroom and conversation with students, quickly reveals Mt. Madonna is anything but the stereotypical school.
“This is not a typical class and this is not a typical high school,” said Ward Mailliard, government teacher and Government in Action program leader.
Besides their isolated locale, dress code (boys are attired in slacks and collared shirts and girls wear dress pants or skirts, there are no jeans or tennis shoes in sight) and curriculum, it’s the program headed by Mailliard that really makes Mt. Madonna stand out.
Sure, other schools travel to Washington, D.C. to see our government up close, none devote an entire class to the visit and are given the chance to conduct in-depth interviews with dignitaries such as former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, as this private school.
“They’ll learn more in 10 days than they’ll learn in a year in the classroom,” Mailliard said.
Mailliard, organized the first trip to Washington in 1989, as an extension of the Mt. Madonna’s government studies class. In 1991, the educator began offering a class, dubbed “Values in America,” specifically to help students develop the questions they plan to pose to leaders during the trip.
The wall of his classroom is filled with photos of students posing with various politicians, leaders and even former President Bill Clinton. Mailliard’s boast that the leaders are impressed by the politeness, intelligence and preparation of his students is verified by a photo signed by House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt with the words “To Mt. Madonna school group, you are very impressive!”
This year, 23 juniors and seniors will spend the trip meeting with notables including, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Journalist Ray Suarez, Congressman Sam Farr (D-Carmel.) and others.
Recently during the “Values” class, the students sat in a circle at long tables and discussed taking responsibility and the importance of collaboration versus isolation or in Mailliard’s words learning “the values that lead one to a life of meaning.”
After the discussion, the students broke off into three small groups to hone the long list of questions they prepared for the mid-May interviews. Jonji Barber, one of the students sharpening questions for PBS Correspondent Suarez, said he was particularly pumped about the trip because his older brother, who prefers sports over politics, returned home glowing.
“He just came back saying how life-changing it was,” the 16-year-old said.
