How do the daily “moments of quiet reflection” in Friends schools grounded in the larger Quaker tradition enhance the growth of both students and a school community itself? Clint Wilkins, MDiv shares his insights on the power of silent stillness and quiet reflection as core components of effective education for intellectual growth, character development and community well-being.  Grounded in his fifty-plus years as an educator, Clint will describe both the individual and group Quaker processes of silent stillness such as Gathering and Settling, Centering Down, and Listening for One’s Inner Voice – connecting these centering processes to such activities as conflict resolution, discernment, community building and organizational decision-making.  

Drawing upon specific examples in his career at Sidwell Friends in Washington D.C., he will illuminate how to incorporate the strengths of silent stillness practice into the ways that young people learn, teachers teach and school leaders administer. Clint will offer examples on how quiet reflection practices can enhance the cognitive and emotional development of young people and how these dynamics are buttressed in research.  He will reflect on how these pauses – as short as a minute or as long as a few months or even years – can serve not only to defuse inner and interpersonal conflicts and reveal new insights – but also can set the stage for leading more healthy and balanced lives which is shown to be the case in a longitudinal survey of Sidwell Friends’ alumni.

Clint will conclude by reflecting on how he incorporated the practices of Friends schools into the creation of Sage Hill School, a secular independent high school dedicated to sustaining and strengthening the core values of “Courage, Balance, Community, Service, Discovery, Knowledge, Excellence, Integrity, Compassion, and Creativity.”  Following the prepared remarks there will be a period of dialogue with session participants. 

Clint Wilkins has a long and distinguished career in education. He started out as a teacher, coach, college counselor, dean of students, principal and assistant headmaster at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC., later serving as chief executive officer of two outstanding independent schools on both coasts before realizing his lifelong dream of founding Orange County’s Sage Hill School. Formerly an Associate with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford, he now has taken on the role of project lead for The Future Design Group. Over the course of his career Clint has carved out periods of reflection and renewal, such as serving as a Visiting Practitioner at Stanford’s School of Education. Now savoring the fullness of his retirement years, Clint is leading a number of intergenerational programs, among them as an “Encore Fellow” in the Mayor’s Office in San Jose and with Next Gen Scholars in San Rafael. Clint received his BA from Williams College in history, a masters degree from Harvard in religion, and his secondary school teaching credentials at Princeton.

This session is part of the FREE Contemplation by Design Summit, Oct. 15-27, 2025.

The full summit schedule is posted at: https://med.stanford.edu/contemplation/summit.html.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stanford-contemplation-by-design-summit-2025-online-oct-15-27-registration-1520413249959