A teacher at a Dorchester, MA, elementary school leads an Open Circle meeting.After 34 years of operation, Open Circle transitioned to a legacy program of the Wellesley Centers for Women at the end of June 2021. In the years since its founding, it has transformed hundreds of schools across the United States into communities where students feel safe, cared for, and engaged in learning. It also put social and emotional learning, or SEL, on the map, kickstarting a culture shift and spurring U.S. schools to put more emphasis on the emotional wellbeing of not only students, but the entire school community.
After 34 years of operation, Open Circle transitioned to a legacy program of the Wellesley Centers for Women at the end of June 2021. In the years since its founding, it has transformed hundreds of schools across the United States into communities where students feel safe, cared for, and engaged in learning. It also put social and emotional learning, or SEL, on the map, kickstarting a culture shift and spurring U.S. schools to put more emphasis on the emotional wellbeing of not only students, but the entire school community.
The world is a better place because of Open Circle.
While it was in operation, Open Circle reached over 360 schools, 90 districts, and 16 states across the U.S. It also reached educators and students as far away as China and Uganda. In 2013, its highly effective program was recognized by CASEL in its exclusive Guide to Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs.
Over the years, Open Circle enjoyed the talented leadership of many visionary individuals, including Kim Comart, J.D., Kristen Handricken, Ed.M., Nancy MacKay, Nova Biro, M.B.A., and Kamilah Drummond-Forrester, M.A., CAGS. Many donors and funders made Open Circle’s work possible, including Grace W. and Robert S. Stone, Barbara and Patrick Roche and Roche Bros., the NoVo Foundation, the Boston Public Health Commission, and the Morningstar Family Foundation, whose support over the years advanced Open Circle's programming.
Katherine S. Kaufmann, M.S.W., Ed.D., the daughter of Grace W. and Robert S. Stone and a member of WCW’s Council of Advisors, said, “My parents would be extraordinarily proud—as am I—that social and emotional learning is today part of the national conversation about what kids need in their schools in order to learn optimally and to provide a framework for their mental health for years to come. Open Circle surely played a critically important role in leading the way to that national conversation.”
WCW will continue to incorporate SEL into many aspects of its work. In particular, Senior Research Scientist Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., will continue work funded by the Morningstar Family Foundation on the development of digital wellbeing lessons for middle schoolers that will combine digital citizenship and SEL. She plans to pilot the program in 2022.
“Transformation is always in process, and if we trace the thread, we can always see how the end of one thing opens up beautiful new vistas elsewhere,” said WCW Executive Director Layli Maparyan, Ph.D. “So it is with Open Circle, whose teachings and principles about the value of our emotions and social connections are now embedded in so many children and adults, families, schools, and communities that will now evolve in new ways as a result. The world is a better place because of Open Circle.”
Memories from Open Circle
Boston Public School teachers pose with their Open Circle Curriculum binders during a 2017 Classroom Teacher Training.
Two Open Circle trainers, Jen Dirga (center left) and Sallie Dunning (center right), traveled to Uganda in 2014 to train teachers, youth, and parents in rural primary schools and communities.
Nancy MacKay (left) and Kamilah Drummond-Forrester (right) pose with participants during a 2016 Open Circle Train-the- Trainer program.
