By Ward Mailliard
George Shultz and the Mount Madonna Students
Ward Mailliard
The following article is from our recent interview with former Secretary of State George Shultz. I can’t think of a better preparation for the upcoming journey to Washington DC. It brought the trip much closer and made it real for the students. I noticed that the enthusiasm level went up as the students could now envision more clearly speaking to those who serve our nation. Secretary Shultz is the embodiment of the character, values and dedicated service we hope to find on our journey.
George Shultz Interview
March 30, 2012
“I’m in my 90s now and people say I’m reasonably alert, and why is that? I think it’s because somehow, early in my life, I learned how much fun it is to learn something. It’s often said that experience is the best teacher, but the fact of the matter is that you can take a group of people like this and expose them to the same experience, and some people learn something from it and some people don’t learn anything from it. So the question is how do you learn how to learn from experience?”
– George Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of State
Sitting around the elegant table at the Annenberg Conference Center at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, 29 Mount Madonna School (MMS) high school students leaned forward listening intently to the soft and yet authoritative voice of former Secretary of State George Shultz. The boys were dressed in suits and the girls in professional dress to honor the privilege of this special occasion. They had prepared for this moment for weeks: doing research, watching documentaries, discussing and formulating questions. This was an opportunity to engage with history by speaking to a man who helped shape it.
Secretary Shultz enters the room and everyone stands. He puts everyone at ease with a bit of good humor and his calm presence. Senior McKenzie Caborn introduces the group of juniors and seniors, and the students begin asking questions that will shape their conversation with this iconic figure who served in so many important jobs, including that of Secretary of State for seven years of the Reagan Presidency.
Junior Karina Fox begins, “In a 2008 interview with Mount Madonna School students, you said, ‘Obviously, if both sides have weapons that can be devastating if used, it gets your attention.’” She then asks, “How can we keep people paying attention in order to continue the support for the process of nuclear arms reduction?”