School for Ethics and Global Leadership


Headquartered in Washington, D.C., The School for Ethics and Global Leadership is a selective, semester-long residential program for intellectually motivated high school juniors from across the United States. The program selects students who have shown outstanding character, promise for leadership, and scholastic ability and provides them with a unique curriculum that emphasizes ethical thinking, leadership development, and international affairs.

History

High school educator Noah Bopp founded SEGL in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks. SEGL matriculated its first class of students on August 29, 2009. It opened a second campus in partnership with African Leadership Academy in 2020. Since its inception, the school has graduated over 650 students.

School life

Students at SEGL take courses based on a block schedule. Students take Ethics and Leadership for two hours on Monday, all day Wednesday, and for two hours on Friday. Other courses have regular 50-minute and longer block periods. All DC students also take an introductory Arabic and Chinese language and culture course. Along with the specialized SEGL curriculum, students take courses that match sending school requirements. The school also hosts a Summer Ethics and Leadership Institute in London and offers several summer international excursions.
Visits with prominent guest speakers are common. Guests have included Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, General Stanley A. McChrystal, Egil "Bud" Krogh, Carl Wilkens, Lissa Muscatine, Jack Abramoff, Ambassador Mark Dybul, Senator Chuck Schumer, former White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, NRA President David Keene, Governor Michael Dukakis, and former President Barack Obama.
The DC campus academic building is a block from Dupont Circle. Its residential building is half a block from the U.S. Supreme Court and one block from the U.S. Capitol building on Capitol Hill.
The Johannesburg location is part of the African Leadership Academy campus in Johannesburg.

Trustees

Paige Cottingham-Streater is the SEGL board chair. She replaced Dudley Lacy in July, 2018. Lacy replaced J. Matteson Ellis, SEGL's founding board chair, in May 2012. Liz Wainger is the board vice chair. Harold Eugene Batiste III is SEGL board vice chair emeritus. James Warren is the board's legal counsel.

Notable Alumni/ae

Markus Batchelor
Zora Ilunga-Reed
Cameron Koffman
Martin Rather
Jules Spector