Middle Schoolers Take Center Stage at Belonging Conference
Alejandro Prince brought a powerful challenge to Norfolk Collegiate’s middle school students: understanding the world begins with understanding yourself.
“When we’re talking about the long game, one of the most important things to do is to self-reflect and understand yourself,” he shared during his keynote address.
Prince connected personal identity with community, offering students a grounded and reassuring definition of belonging: “Belonging is the positive connection with a group that develops from knowing you are cared for, supported, and safe—and that you can be yourself,” he said.
That message became a central theme for the day, reinforcing engaged citizenship, one of the important values of Norfolk Collegiate's Portrait of an Oak.
“I can’t know that I belong until the person who least belongs knows that they belong and are cared for,” he added—introducing a sense of shared responsibility and collective care.
Conflict Isn’t About Winning
Prince also reframed how young people should approach disagreement—a critical skill both in and beyond the classroom.
“The point of conflict is not winning,” he said. “It’s to resolve the conflict… collaborating and growing together.”
He emphasized that real resolution comes from communication and seeing conflict as a shared puzzle to solve rather than a battle to be won.
Curiosity Beyond Our Culture
Students were also asked to think bigger—about language, culture, curiosity and empathy.
“What are those ideas from someone’s language that you can gain more wisdom about?” Prince asked the students. “What if one day I’m in the minority because I’m in another culture? How can I be an engaged and active learner?”
These questions invited students to explore both self-awareness and global empathy—skills that support not just learning, but understanding.
A Day Built for Connection
Following the keynote, students dove headfirst into collaboration with the Advisory Rivalry Puzzle Challenge—working in groups to create custom puzzle pieces that reflected their unique advisory identity and a core Portrait of an Oak value.
The full day was carefully designed around experiential learning to help students explore community, compassionate communication, and healthy relationships through hands-on activities and teacher-led workshops.
Students and faculty learned side by side in sessions such as:
- The Mystical Mind – What’s in an image?
- Team Building & Sportsmanship
- The Science of Stress
- The Web of Connectedness
- Yoga for Calm & Connection
- Layers of Learning
- We Play Together
- Oops, I Said Um Again – Public Speaking
The goal? Not just to talk about belonging—but to build it.
Strengthening the Roots, Again and Again
Prince first joined the Collegiate community in 2024 as a keynote speaker and returned this year to continue his immense contribution to the school’s belonging work. He comes from Richmond’s Steward School, where he serves as coordinator of community and belonging.
With over a decade of experience—including leadership roles at the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities and Thrive Virginia Community Action Agency—Prince’s work centers on fostering compassionate dialogue, cultural awareness, conflict resolution, and meaningful human connection.
The Takeaway
Middle school is a time to discover yourself. But at Norfolk Collegiate, it’s also a time to discover each other.
