TASIS Speaker Series

Statement of Purpose

The TASIS Speaker Series (TSS) draws from some of the best elements of the TASIS identity—truth, goodness, beauty, international understanding, and humanitarian action—to provide TASIS students with a signature educational experience. Although the TSS focuses on students near the end of their TASIS careers, the program aspires to serve as an educative instrument for the entire division, creating opportunities for all High School students to interact with people and ideas of significance that are concerned with the world beyond our campus. Students enhance their intellectual experience through discussions, lectures, class visits, and film screenings focusing on these five elements. This program conveys a clear message to students about what the School hopes for and expects from them after they leave TASIS.

Background

The TASIS Speaker Series, which was known as the Senior Humanities Program (SHP) until the fall of 2018, was initially made possible by a CHF 100,000 donation from TASIS parents Michael and Jane Grindfors to The M. Crist Fleming Endowment for International Understanding and Leadership in 2008. It remains an integral part of a TASIS education thanks to support from the TASIS Board of Directors and the work done by a dedicated group of teachers and students who created and continue this special program.

Speaker Selection Criteria

The TASIS Speaker Series Committee seeks to select speakers that embody the five pillars of the program: truth, goodness, beauty, international understanding, and humanitarian action. In selecting the group of speakers, priority should be given to speakers who fulfill those five virtues in some capacity while not sacrificing their overall quality. In any given year there ought to be a variety of voices, backgrounds, and professions represented in the group of selected speakers. Ultimately, however, speakers should be selected on the basis of their ability to enhance the intellectual and moral experience of the outgoing seniors and the community as a whole.