Sustainability Consultant, Environment Advocate, and McLean trusteeHarris Bergman ’09

Harris Bergman learned to advocate and think big at a young age. As a fourth grader at McLean, he and his friends started a classroom energy-saving campaign that earned them an apt nickname: “the light squad.” Today, at 27, he continues to apply the creativity and confidence he gained from those early experiences as he helps his clients at socially conscious organizations brainstorm ways to maximize their impact. “The teachers could have dismissed or ignored our idea but they embraced it,” Harris recalls. “Even at that young age, the school encouraged advocacy and independence.”

One of three brothers to attend McLean, Harris transferred in third grade from a local public school where he had felt lost and unsupported in large classrooms. Diagnosed with ADHD and executive functioning disorder, he found McLean a far better match for his needs. “It was pretty easy to fit in and all the teachers were very welcoming. Because of the small classes, teachers could always provide extra help where it was needed or challenge you if you forged ahead.”

The biggest revelation, though, was how McLean approached students’ learning challenges-its unique Abilities Model™. With teachers trained to recognize and teach to each individual’s special strengths, Harris felt the freedom to be himself in the classroom. “For example, I was allowed to quietly stand during math class if I couldn’t sit still any longer and no-one paid any attention to it. They taught us that what others would call a learning disability doesn’t have to be a barrier to success if you reframe it and use it as a strength, which is something I still do today.”

For Harris, finding his strengths included starring in the school’s rich arts program as a talented singer, actor and dancer. He also built close relationships with science teachers, a subject he excelled in. And when he asked for flexibility to meet his needs, the school responded. “After a tough first semester of junior year I asked to lighten my course load a bit. They let me help teach the lower school science class, and gave me course credit for it. I also got independent study credits for volunteering at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad during the school day. I wasn’t forced to pursue only traditional academics in high school, which has made a difference in the way I approach the world and my work.”

Harris took what he learned at school about his strengths as an ideas person and a communicator into his college life and career. At the University of Tampa in Florida, he pursued a business major and philosophy minor. He then joined a start-up focused on infection control, before moving to his father’s business in a similar field. In 2017, driven by a passion for the environment that dates back to the “light squad”, he switched career tracks and took a Master’s degree in sustainability management at American University’s Kogod School of Business. Since 2017, he has worked for a DC-based sustainability consultancy, The Collective Good. Now responsible for client engagements, marketing, social media and communications as well as supporting the company’s operations and business development, Harris has found a perfect fit for his passion and skillset.

“We work with a network of consultants and a wide variety of social and environmental clients looking to improve their impact, so it’s very collaborative and strategic. McLean fostered my 30,000-foot view of life and my curiosity, where other schools would have tried to stifle it  and told me to sit down and shut up. Being in a boutique consultancy allows me the same kind of freedom to be myself and operate in the way that’s best for me.

Looking back, Harris sees McLean as a safe harbor that prepared not only himself but his younger brothers Parker ’12 and Shafer ’22 to embark confidently, and with resilience, into adolescence and adulthood. “It helped my parents enormously, knowing they had a partner in the school. It was not a transactional experience; it was a continuum of care that provided what each brother needed, which was different in every case. Wherever Harris’s advocacy and big ideas take him next, one thing is for certain: he will be following a path and a passion that began back in fourth grade. As a new member of the School’s Board of Trustees, Harris will help McLean continue to deliver exceptional education to the next generation of gifted students.