Having studied various forms of government in social studies this year, our grade 7 students welcomed the Mayor of Wassenaar, Mr. Leendert de Lange, for a presentation about the role of the municipality and his personal, academic, and professional journey. 

About Stronger Together
We have a strong community in Wassenaar. We see organizations, volunteers, and clubs getting together to help one another. This will be our task for the coming years - to foster that community feeling. I always had fun with the community and connecting with people. I like working with people. 

About Learning That Matters
“I think that this is the new way of learning - by experience, talking to people, having experiences with companies or organizing events, being a member of student councils… That helps more than reading books and memorizing facts. I think you get motivated by other approaches. That helps youngsters get prepared for the future. When you’re out of school, it is old knowledge in 2 or 3 years. So it is more important to learn how to learn and to do that your whole life. I do that as a mayor and I still learn every day.”

About Joyful Learning Environments
“I think that as time passes, the environment will play more of a part in people’s wellbeing. What I always called the value of Wassenaar is indeed our green environment. It's where you can breathe, relax, enjoy nature. It’s really important to protect that.” 

About Being Well, Doing Well
“We learned that the pandemic is not only medical, it affected the wellbeing of people. We’re used to having everything planned out, and after the pandemic, we had to get used to being flexible, we had to learn to adapt. It was very difficult for our normal way of living. We are so happy and lucky to live in a green environment like Wassenaar - you can go to the parks, the dunes, the beach.” 

About his ASHexperience
“Every time I enter a school building, I think to myself: It would be nice to be back in school for a day. To sit and learn, hear all the stories. To me, motivation starts at school, when you are curious to learn and try things and it is a safe environment to do that.” 

#ASHexperience
#ASHSpeakerSeries