British royalty touches down at Baltimore’s Western High School

Baltimore students will get one chance to impress British royalty.

Late Wednesday morning, Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh and youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, will visit Western High School, one of seven high schools joining his youth achievement program.

His Royal Highness is visiting Baltimore during a four-day U.S. trip to “celebrate the relationship between the U.S. and the U.K., with a particular focus on shared interests around youth empowerment and opportunity, and the arts,” according to a news release. He’ll also make stops in New York and Washington, D.C.

Jermaine Dawson, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, said he wants Baltimore to top the duke’s list when he thinks about the greatest cities in America with the brightest minds. He said he’s excited to show off Baltimore’s young people and “the way that they take ownership of their learning, how they push back when they need to.”

Students at Western, an all-girls school in Northwest Baltimore, will have the chance to ask questions of Prince Edward, whom Dawson described as down to earth and passionate about carrying on the youth program his father started in 1956.

“He is really relentless about young people really having agency in taking their lives and owning it, driving it,” Dawson said. “He wants every other young person to be able to imagine whatever future they so desire.”

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, open to people ages 14-24 in 130 countries, has four core areas: skills, physical activity, volunteering and an adventurous journey, according to a City Schools news release.

“The experience is designed to foster determination, resourcefulness, creativity and stronger connections to community,” the release reads.

Dawson said the program will encourage students to think internationally and pursue passions outside of the classroom. It’s a good fit for students who may not want to pursue traditional paths of recognition, like an International Baccalaureate diploma or stardom on the football field, he said.

Dawson previously brought the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award to Philadelphia schools.

Students at seven schools — Academy for College and Career Exploration, Baltimore City College, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, Carver Vocational-Technical High School, Forest Park High School, Frederick Douglass High School and Western High School — can sign up to get recognized for things they’re already doing, Dawson said. For example, all high schoolers need to do volunteer hours; now those count toward this international program, too.

In Baltimore, students can sign up starting in 10th grade. They can then move through the program’s bronze, silver and gold levels, competing against themselves for personal growth rather than one another. The experience will get high schoolers out of their comfort zone and off screens, Dawson said. They’ll think critically and problem-solve.

“I own the quest to make sure that we have a global, international focus for our young people that is bigger than just the five-mile radius of where you live,” Dawson said. “We live in a global market now. And our young people need to be able to have that.”

This story will be updated.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.