Since the early 1990s, The Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital has been bringing world-class speakers to share insight with members of the First Coast community through the Florida Forum Speaker Series. From Margaret Thatcher and Peyton Manning to most recently Boris Johnson, a wide range of international figures have engaged in onstage conversations to raise funds for the hospital. 

“This season, we’ve committed to raising money that goes towards the Kids Kare Mobile Intensive Care Units (ICUs),” said Maxine McBride, co-chair of the 2024-25 Florida Forum Speaker Series alongside Randy DeFoor. The mobile ICUs are a part of the hospital’s Neonatal and Pediatric Critical Care Transport fleet, and are specially equipped with technology and teams trained to provide emergency, critical, trauma, and specialty care. 

“The Children’s Hospital serves a really wide geography, so transportation is really, really important. It’s a three year funding target,” said McBride. With subscription packages for the Florida Forum events costing between $100 and $3,000, The Women’s Board aims to raise $1.5 million for two new Kids Care Mobile ICUs and other hospital programs. 

While the Speaker Series is primarily a fundraising event, the Star Students program allows several schools and youth organizations to attend free of charge. “We have performers and politicians and astronauts, a whole range of speakers and thought leaders,” said McBride. “It’s an excellent opportunity to get students to experience that, because you might not be able to in your everyday lives.” 

The Star Students program is usually sponsored by a corporation or individual who works with the Women’s Board to choose schools and groups for each event. “We try to find out if there’s any groups in particular they’re interested in,” said McBride. “The invitation goes out to a pretty wide range across our Northeast Florida geography, but it kind of depends on the speaker, sponsor, and who’s available.” In the past, the Police Athletic League, Girl Scouts, and ROTC groups have been invited, along with local high schools and colleges. 

On October 29, Bolles participated in the Star Students session sponsored by Flagler College, attending the first event of this year’s Speaker Series featuring the former Prime Minister of Britain, Rt Hon Boris Johnson. 

The invitation to the series was extended through the World Affairs Council, which organizes various educational opportunities to promote global understanding, including the Great Decisions Program. 

Latin teacher Ms. Gentry sponsors the Great Decisions Club at Bolles and received an email on October 15 from Rachel Paul, the Director of Education and Community Outreach at the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville, regarding the Speaker Series. 

“She just said, ‘Florida Forum has reached out to us. They want to invite students to hear Johnson speak, do you have any students that would be interested?’” From there, Gentry gathered five enthusiastic students from the Great Decisions Program to attend the event. 

For Gentry, the event presented the opportunity to view global issues through Johnson’s point of view as a world leader and political figure. “I think you have a better idea of the challenges that a leader needs to grapple with, and all the different things he needs to weigh,” said Gentry. “And that was a perspective I don’t get when I just read about what’s happening in the media. We get all our news and it’s snippets. It’s in ten-second fragments, a quote, you don’t have context. Being able to actually listen and to have him explain the context, I think that was really interesting.”

Despite being a somewhat “spur of the moment” opportunity with last-minute planning, Bolles students were just as enthusiastic. “It was a little difficult, being a school night,” recalled Gentry, “but every student afterwards was like, ‘I am so glad I gave up my evening, put everything on the backburner for the event.’ ” 

Johnson and moderator John Delaney, the President of Flagler College and former Jacksonville Mayor, took their seats onstage at the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts to discuss topics ranging from the former prime minister’s political views to his newly published memoir, “Unleashed.” But for McBride, the most memorable part of Johnson’s visit was his attitude during a tour of the Wolfson Children’s Hospital. “Just the amount of time, the great questions he asked. He wasn’t in a hurry, he was very interested in it,” said McBride. “That really impressed me.”

Johnson was the first of three speakers for the 2024-25 series, which starts in autumn and runs through early spring. Physician, author, and “pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation” Deepak Chopra, MD will speak on January 15, followed by novelist and journalist Carl Hiaasen on February 12. 

When it comes to scheduling speakers, The Women’s Board chairs play a large role in deciding who to book. “We wanted names that were recognizable, and we wanted a real variety,” said McBride. “We put a lot of names out on the table, and we reached out to a lot of agents, and it just came together the way it came together. I think it’s perfect.”

According to McBride, it takes some time to negotiate availability with speakers, who are limited to dates within the late autumn and early spring months. However, the Board manages to book three or four speakers each year, often covering a variety of backgrounds and topics. 

For McBride, the differences between the speakers are part of what makes the series so interesting. “I have a really wide range of interests,” said McBride, “I love the speakers that we put together for this series. These three speakers are so different and they’re so interesting and I love putting people like that together.”

At each event, the speaker takes the stage with a moderator to share insights on a range of topics. “They create their own questions,” said McBride. “Boris Johnson required that we send the questions to him and advance to his team. They didn’t make any changes to it or anything, but they obviously want to review them ahead of time.” Delaney’s questions for Johnson covered various topics, including his views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the housing crisis, his view on American politics, and climate change. 

“The students were very excited because you get a perspective that you don’t really get in the news,” said Gentry. “A little bit more off the cuff. It was a bit less formal.” Gentry recalled gaining a greater understanding of Johnson’s decisions regarding Brexit, COVID-19, and involvement in the G7 by hearing him share his opinions directly. “The way the media covers events and how politicians speak, and then to hear him sit and talk and actually explain his thought process and the reasoning that went into his choices and why he steered their country the way he did…It was just fascinating to hear all the details.” 

In the past, speakers like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have covered similar political topics. McBride remembers tickets being sold out in anticipation for Clinton and Bush, who were both part of the 2010-2011 series. “Bush was a very entertaining speaker, not what I expected at all,” recalled McBride. “He was fun, and he was very open. He and Bill Clinton had been out of office at that point, so I think he was able to be more open, but he was very interesting.”

With speakers providing insight on a range of issues, these events can provide an important educational opportunity to broaden students’ global lens. “All the speakers are world leaders,” said McBride. “They’re thought leaders, some of them are celebrities, but it’s a really excellent opportunity for students to have that experience in person, which is so much more impactful than listening to somebody on a podcast or watching them on television.”