Round Square – IDEALS Society

Round Square is hard to explain to people who haven’t experienced it. It’s an international network of schools that brings together students from wildly different backgrounds to talk about things that matter, democracy, service, environmentalism, leadership, plus others, and somehow makes those conversations feel genuine rather than forced. I’ve come away from every group discussion with new perspectives, new friends, and a strange sense that my own worldview is a lot smaller than I thought.

What I didn’t expect was that a club I don’t even actively participate in would shape how I show up in those spaces.

I’ve never actually done anything in Mock Trial. No opening statements, no dramatic objections, no cross examinations. I just show up, find a seat and watch people do their thing. But somewhere between all those hearings and cross-examinations, something shifted in the way I engage with people, and I think it has made me a better Round Square participant than I ever expected.

The biggest thing I picked up from watching. How to listen. The competitors who stood out weren’t the loudest ones, they were the ones who paid attention, adjusted to whatever was thrown at them, and genuinely engaged with what the other side was saying. That stuck with me. Now when I’m at Round Square, I don’t just voice my own opinions but learn from so many others. I sit across from people with completely different worldviews than mine, which sound so normal, but I think it makes such a difference.

There’s also something about watching people argue through complicated ethical scenarios that makes Round Square’s IDEALS feel less like words on a page and more like things that matter. You see how messy it gets when people genuinely disagree, and you come away with a lot more respect for the process of working through it together.

And honestly, just being around people who care deeply about doing something well has rubbed off on me. I’ve found myself more willing to put my hand up in Round Square spaces for service projects, leadership roles, conversations I might have once shied away from.

Turns out you can learn a lot from the side.

– Adelaide Abernethy (Year 11)