Twice each month, Delbarton offers a homeroom period as an activity block, providing thirty-plus clubs – the school has seventy clubs in all -- with a time and space to meet. The Activity Day 1 and Activity Day 2 system encourages every student in grades 7 to 12 to participate in extracurricular activities that interest him beyond academics, arts and sports. Our boys may be busy, but they're always ready for more.

On February 5, during Activity Day #1, thirty-two clubs met, everything from Coding Club, Mock Trial, and Research in Science Club to Rock Band, Legos Club and Ping Pong Club. In room T245, History Club members Sean Fialcowitz ’26 and Jake Caravello ’27 conducted a formal debate on the Congress of Vienna. Caravello argued that the Congress of Vienna was not the success that some historians portray it to be, while Fialcowitz represented the opposing view. Both students did a superb job of presenting their points, and Caravello used several props from his Forensics debates, including an elevated laptop stand and cell phone holder to time himself. 

History Club Moderator and AP European History teacher John Thompson observed from the sidelines...

...occasionally reminding the debaters of time constraints. Club members used their phones to monitor the time and called out prompts to keep the debate on track. Like ping pong with words.

Some Historical Context

After the fall of Napolean Bonaparte in 1814, the Congress of Vienna was a series of meetings in Vienna, Austria that used a complex diplomatic organizational framework to pitch a new European order. Participants included European super powers Great Britain, Austria, Germany and Russia, and lesser stakeholders like Denmark, Portugal and Sweden that would be impacted by the plans. Klemens von Metternich, a German diplomat serving the Austrian Empire, chaired the Congress which took place from September 1914 to June 1815. The goal of the Congress of Vienna was to negotiate a long-term peace plan for Europe. This included a restoration of old boundaries and rebalancing major powers while guiding smaller powers to create an era of peace and stability. After Napolean's defeat, France was diplomatically punished for its two-decade long warring ways, forced to relinquish recent conquests and major territorial gains to other major powers. Essentially, Europe was reshuffled. 

Since then, some historians have criticized the Congress of Vienna as a reactionary settlement that benefited traditional monarchs while causing the suppression of national, democratic, and liberal movements.  Still others have praised the Congress for creating a new framework for diplomacy while preventing large, widespread European wars for almost a century. The pause ended with the start of World War 1 in July, 1914, a hundred years later.

The debate continued at Delbarton as Fialcowitz and Caravello offered different perspectives and knowledgeably refuted each other’s claims. Thompson was delighted, and their peers enjoyed and were impressed by the smart, sharp banter.

As Activity Day #1concluded, the crowded room was flooded with Mock Trial members who arrived from their club meeting to observe and promote the Trial process to History Club members.

They are tired of making it to the Morris County Mock Trial finals, only to lose for three years in a row to a talented Mendham team that outnumbers Delbarton by two to one.  There is strength in numbers, men.

Thompson thanked Fialcowitz and Caravello and pointed out that they presented their Congress of Vienna debate for academic reward other than the pleasure of learning more about an important period of history while sharpening their debate (and possibly courtroom) skills. Before moving on to their next class, Fialcowitz, on right, and Caravello shook hands and parted company as friends, another lesson in diplomacy from Delbarton School for Intellectual Curiosity.