Reid Waxman

“I talked about with the students about how things children see and post online, including pornography and excessive violence. I also talked about learning to protect your personal information, such as passwords and phone numbers,” said Mr. Schiller during his address to the Upper School community.

On September 1st, the Upper School welcomed Mr. Greg Schiller, a prosecutor from the US Attorney General’s Office as its first guest speaker of the year. Mr. Schiller addressed the audience on the issues of online privacy, inappropriate content, and unwanted solicitations from individuals or strangers from social media platforms and the internet. 

Schiller has been a prosecuting attorney for 20 years and provided an internet safety presentation by the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and its NetSmartz workshop.

“I used real-life examples to describe the offline consequences of your online actions.  In addition to these stories, I infused local cases (with the parties always remaining anonymous). I covered everything from Facebook to Instagram, Twitter to YouTube, Xbox to Smart Phones, and, of course, TikTok,” Schiller explained.

Dean of Students Kevin Jacobsen organized Mr. Schiller’s visit. Mr. Jacobsen was inspired after speaking with Middle School Dean of Students Mr. Nick Crisafi about Mr. Schiller’s visit to our other campus last year. 

“I think it is important, because there are a lot of predators online, and some of our students have not been prepared for what they might interact with on social media,” said Mr. Jacobsen; “there are so many different ways our students can get in trouble online, and being so young and not having real-world experience just yet of what things you say and do can impact your everyday life if you start making bad decisions. As a teacher at the school, it may be more impactful to students when somebody else comes and talks to you, rather than a teacher like me.”

Freshman James Carpenter liked Mr. Schiller’s presentation, as it took him back to what he learned in middle school. 

“This speaker was impactful to me because it reminded me of valuable lessons that can make or break where you go to college and it could affect your entire life,” Carpenter explains. “Throughout middle school, I was always taught to be safe on social media, on whatever platform, and Mr. Schiller explained why being safe on social media is more than just your reputation.”

This presentation by Mr. Schiller was very informative, warning that students should be protective of what to do and say on the internet.